White Christmas

 This is the inspiration photo for the final 2016 challenge at Jingle Belles.  I am personally grateful to Lauren and Stef for these motivating challenges.  They have enabled me to create dozens of Christmas cards and I hardly purchased any new supplies to do so...except for this ring wreath die from Simon Says Stamp:

I was enamored with the (mostly) white Christmas decorations in the inspiration photo.  The sentiment and base layer were cut from a sheet of glitter paper (both also new stash), but all of the buttons, brads, sequins, gems, and flowers are from my stash (most of it seriously old!)

 Nearly a year ago my friend Leslie Hanna and I promised each other that we would participate in all of the Jingle Belles challenges for 2016.  Though I completely forgot to post my card from the last challenge, I did make at least one card for every challenge at Jingle Belles this year.  Cheers, Leslie!

This card uses retired BasicGrey paper, clearance alphabet stamps purchased at Michael's, and the Hero Arts poinsettia layered stamps from the December 2015 Hero Arts card kit.

Happy Sunday!

Not A Creature Was Stirring challenge

I recently purchased this stamp and die set "Toboggan Together" by Lawn Fawn.  My snowflake paper is a Doodlebug "Santa Express" 6x6 scrap that I toned down with a scrap of vellum.  The white snowflakes are Simon Says Stamp dies.  I am entering my card in the current challenge at Jingle Belles to include a critter (of any kind...monster, alien, penguin, etc.)

This was fun to make.  I enjoyed playing with my neglected Copic markers!  My inks are by Hero Arts:  poinsettia and strawberry.

Happy Wednesday!

Pink Christmas for Breast Cancer Awareness

  The current challenge at Jingle Belles is to make a PINK Christmas card.  Leslie Hanna (aka The Crooked Stamper) did not like pink, yet still participated in pink challenges.  Leslie always included "gah" before she typed the word pink on her blog.
Leslie passed away on Christmas Day last year, but I know she is celebrating this *gah* pink challenge in spirit with her fellow Belles and Shopping Our Stash design team.

 Last weekend I was reorganizing my old Stampin' Up decorative papers; I separated my collections and sorted all by color.  That was when I came across these scraps and I knew I needed to use them for this challenge.  Leslie used to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator, so I'm pretty sure she would have had these papers in her stash.  I even colored the tree trunks with a Stampin' Up marker "Pretty in Pink."  I love it when I start purging/re-organizing crafty supplies and it sparks a little creativity!  The trees stamp is by Paper Smooches ("Warm Hearts") and the wonky stitched die is My Favorite Things Die-namics.

Happy Tuesday!

Bells for the Belles

Bells for the Belles...the gals at Jingle Belles, to be exact!  The current challenge is to use at least one bell on your card (jingle bell, sleigh bell, etc.)  When I was at my LSS (local stamp store) a couple of weeks ago I spied beautiful cupboard elements by Maggie Holmes.  This checkered and gold glittered dear jumped out at me!  My sentiment is by Hero Arts, the trees are die cut from BasicGrey Phoebe 12x12, the ribbon is by Stamping Up, and the jingle bell is from my stash.  It did not photograph well, but I did use fine art gold glitter on the center of the flowers in the trees behind my deer.

I have had a computer virus or something wonky and I have been unable to edit pictures and post to my blog.  This card was created 100% from My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland; I used two 6x6 patterned papers and a chipboard sentiment.  Quick and easy.

This card was for the previous Jingle Belles challenge, "I'll be home for Christmas" (include at least one house on your card.)

Happy Monday!

The Christmas Waltz challenge

I was hoping to make this card ten days ago or so when I saw the "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" challenge at Jingle Belles.  Since school started for my children, I can't seem to find time to craft and when I do, I have lovely interruptions :)  

At any rate, I did get to make use of this gorgeous 3D Nutcracker sticker by Little B (from Simon Says Stamp).  I paired it with Pebbles "Home for Christmas" 6x6 papers.

Happy Wednesday!

(Mostly) Red Christmas Card challenge

This fortnight the challenge at Jingle Belles is "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" or in other words, create a Christmas card that is predominantly red.  

A few days ago I purchased this Memory Box "Folding Tree" die at my LSS (local stamp store.)  I thought it would be perfect with double-sided paper, so I chose a 6x6 piece of Doodlebug "Santa Express" for my card.  My sentiment is from the My Favorite Things stamp set "Home For The Holidays."  I added a gold star brad from my stash and I had the card completed relatively quickly.

Happy Sunday!

We Three Kings (3 Items challenge)

"Christmas brings us together"

I'm joining in at the eleventh hour for the current challenge at Jingle Belles:  We Three Kings (create with three of something.)  I used this Hero Arts scene stamp with three trees and I also wrapped my twine around the card there times (not sure if that counts.)

This is a super short post; we've had another fun family vacation last week and two weeks ago I started a part-time job, which I already love...though this leaves me even less time to craft.

Happy Wednesday!

Jingle Belles Sketch challenge- by Stef!

 Another Christmas card for my 2016 stash :)  

I actually made the Santa tag for a Jingle Belles challenge back in January, but I couldn't get the card to come together.  I placed the tag in a small ziploc bag with other odds and ends of Christmas card cast-offs, like the shiny gold strip on this card was cut off from a commercial Christmas card and the ornament with bell and snowflake.  Apparently all I needed was to rotate this fabulous Stef sketch to use up these bits and bobs:

Won't you join me in the Jingle Belles fun?  Click over to their gallery for some fab uses of Stef's sketch.

Happy Tuesday!

Ombre Colors of Christmas

A last minute card for the current challenge at Jingle Belles:  Ombre Colors of Christmas.  It seems like this is my year for the upcycle; I cut down this store-bought card to 5.25"x5.25", added sequins from my Simon Says Stamp May card kit, and mounted on a piece of watercolor florals paper by Kim Oliver Crafts (color burst splash collection.)

Here is the photo inspiration from Jingle Belles.  I tend to interpret challenges literally.

Want some more photo inspiration?  Pop over to Jingle Belles blog!

Happy Wednesday!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane- Anything Goes challenge

Cut it Up was started by Stacey Hillesheim and Kimberly Jensen. The first challenge was on September 7, 2012 and the theme was Anything Goes. Since that time, they've had 35 designers.

To celebrate Cut It Up's 100th challenge, all present and past designers were invited to celebrate.  I am happy to say I was on the DT for two years and I am happy to celebrate along with the current DT for this momentous occasion.

The theme is Anything Goes, just be sure to include a die cut on your project!  The challenge runs from July 8th - July 20th.

"Within your heart keep one, still, secret spot where dreams may go..."

I used 5 dies on my card...see if you can spot them all:
Simon Says Stamp large rectangle stitched die, My Favorite Things Die-namics Fishtail Flag, W Plus 9 rainbow and cloud dies (Sunshine Layers set), and Waffle Flower horse die with coordinating stamp.

Happy Friday!

30 Day Coloring Challenge- Day 1

The 30 Day Coloring Challenge is back!  Create a card, or just color for 10 minutes each day for thirty days...see if you can find your zen.

I created this card from my Simon Says Stamp June 2016 card kit.  Coloring relaxes me, yet I don't do it often enough.  It was so much fun playing with my copic markers and trying to achieve a watercolor or tie dye look for summer.

Won't you join in the fun?  Link your blog at The Daily Marker.

Happy Tuesday!

It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR

Yes, another Christmas card!  School let out two weeks ago and we have already had a fun family vacation and soon off to another :)

Crafting has taken a back seat, but I am determined to keep up with the gals at Jingle Belles for 2016.  This fortnight is to use something CLEAR on your card.  

I have two gallon-size Ziplock bags full of commercial card fronts from Christmas cards I have received over the past few years.  I took one out that had the acetate snow/snowflake panel.  The card was originally quite large; approximately 6x8.  I removed the acetate panel and the metallic "Season's Greetings" from the base of the card.  I cut the base card into pieces (those background shiny snowflakes and the dry embossed suede paper.)  The background was originally one layer, but I rearranged my cut pieces into layers and created a standard A2 card (4.25" x 5.5").

The dry-embossed suede part is quite stunning in real life, but my photography skills are lacking and I am not doing it justice.

I hope to see you over at Jingle Belles with your CLEAR-ly awesome creation.

Happy Tuesday!

Snow Drifts Snowman Christmas card

It's near the end of the current Jingle Belles challenge this fortnight:  Frosty the Snowman (or pre-snowman...snowflakes or snowfall.)

I included both snowflakes paper, snowflake die cuts, and a chipboard snowman.  The snow drifts die is by My Favorite Things (MFT) and the papers are all by My Mind's Eye (MME) 6x6 "Winter Wonderland."  The chipboard snowman is also from that same MME collection.  

Using your scraps tip:  I only had enough blue snowflake paper to cut the top two panels, and not enough of the house paper to go the entire 4" across.  I cut the tiny house papers from two separate scraps but at the same time; one left-justified and one right justified.  I used the chipboard snow man to hide where the two papers meet up (and therefore the patterns don't match up.)  Make sense?

My sentiment came from the cute Christmas penguins set from The Cat's Pajamas 2009 release.  There was a little too much white space, so I looked through my Christmas bits and bobs baggie and found these three snowflakes I die cut and were leftover from a previous Jingle Belles challenge (Simon Says Stamp Stitched Flakes die).

Happy Tuesday!

No Christmas Blues

I am getting in under the wire for the current Jingle Belles challenge: "Banish the Holiday Blues."  (No blue on your holiday creation.)

This was quick and easy:  two 6x6 papers by Pebbles, a yellow star brad from my stash, Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die, MFT Die-namics Pinking Edge die, and a Cricut cut tree (Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2; cut @ 2 3/4".)

Six months left to play along at Jingle Belles and I have quite a nice pile of cards ready :)

Happy June!

Shaking it up for Christmas

Jingle Belles have a "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" challenge this fortnight...please check out the shaker cards, cards with movement, game cards, etc., over at Jingle Belles.  The guest designer this week is Sybrina K. and she is fabulously creative!

I'm a scrap-happy card maker, and this card is no exception; this card was completely made from scraps from my Carta Bella "Winter Fun" 6x6 pad.  I used Flower Soft for my snow and the dies to cut the house and trees are from Simon Says Stamp.

Happy Tuesday!

Doubly challenged

This morning I sat down at my craft table with the goal of creating birthday cards from my UFO pile.  UFO (Unfinished Object) is an acronym that was often used by my friend Leslie Hanna.  In one of my conversations with her back in December we set a goal of participating in every challenge at Jingle Belles for 2016 and setting aside January 2016 to minimize our UFO piles.  At the time I had two piles that resembled towers :)

In January I did start working on my UFO towers, trying to make multiples of cards whenever possible.  I have made lots of cards and teacher gifts, though I did rarely stop to photograph and blog.  I traded that time for more crafty fun.  I can proudly say that my two towers are definitely just piles at this point.  My next goal is to make it into just one pile.  My ultimate goal is to have no pile, but baby steps are needed here!

Back to this morning...I checked to see what blog challenges were on today and I came across two to get my mojo going:
Shopping Our Stash (SOS) and Die Cuttin Divas.  

The SOS challenge blog is honoring Leslie with a UFO/pink challenge (Leslie always referred to pink as "gah-pink."  She did not like pink!)  I can hear her laughing now :)

The Die Cuttin Divas have this wonderful sketch:

In my UFO piles I have the remnants from my monthly Simon Says Stamp kits.  The heart striped die cut journaling card, floral scrap (behind the heart die), text paper, and gold hearts on dark gah-pink are by My Mind's Eye and are from the Simon Says Stamp October 2015 kit.  The background gold stripe is from my personal stash, as well as the black gumdrops by Your Next Embellie.

Happy Tuesday!

Washi Ornament card

I created this card for the "Here We Come A-Washi-ing" challenge at Jingle Belles.

I was trying to come up with a different way to use my washi tapes, and I decided to try and see if I ran strips of wash on white card stock, would my Stampin' Up ornament punch easily?  The answer is yes!  That does not mean that I am inclined to try to reproduce this particular card; making the bows, adhering the elastic metallic strips, and mounting each on foam tape was time consuming.  It's funny how a card that appears relatively CAS (clean and simple) can be quite the opposite.  I am pleased with the outcome overall and I figured out a new way to make use of my washi tape...and I have another Christmas card for my 2016 stash.

Thanks for the challenge, Jingle Belles!
Happy Monday everyone.

Update:  I did not realize that Lauren had already done the washi ornament for her original post for this particular challenge at Jingle Belles...kudos to you, Lauren for thinking of it first!

Spring Flowers die cut challenge at Cut It Up

Have you seen the Spring Flowers challenge at Cut It Up?

And I used some really old stash!  I found this fun 12x12 diagonally striped paper and thought it would make a great background.  My stitched rectangle dies were used on the striped paper (I got six out of the one sheet) and a smaller stitched rectangle die for the center.  I colored my rubber stamp with markers to stamp the flower image.  Lastly I die cut the banner and stamped the sentiment.  Six cards in less than an hour and using really old stamps, paper, markers, ink, and my MISTI.  Only my stitched dies are relatively new.

Supplies
paper:  Stampin' Up designer paper and Barely Banana (banner); Recollections 110lb. card stock
markers:  Stampin' Up Barely Banana, Yoyo yellow, Certainly Celery
ink pad:  Memories sand
stamps:  "thinking of you" by Savvy stamps; flower by Hero Arts

Happy Monday!

You stamped with what?!! challenge at Shopping Our Stash

This card is for the "You Stamped with What?!!" challenge at Shopping Our Stash; I had fun playing around and creating this card.

My flower was created from this flower die by Concord and 9th:

I die cut the flower, then used the negative pieces as a stencil.  Then I took a sponge, inked it up, and smudged color inside the open spaces of my card stock stencil.  The "you are" is stamped normally; that stamp is by Neat and Tangled.  "beautiful" is also a die by Concord and 9th.

Happy Thursday!

Peace on Earth Day challenge

This card was easy-peasy!  The current challenge at Jingle Belles is Peace on Earth Day; "create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away...break them out and create with them."

I have two gallon-size Ziplock bags full of card fronts from store-bought Christmas cards I have received over the past few years...the ones that are too pretty to toss in the bin.  I cut down this beautiful Madonna and child image and layered it on this navy specialty fabric paper.  Super easy!

Happy Thursday!

North Pole Denizen challenge

Do you enjoy playing along with blog challenges?  I am happy to see what inspiration Lauren and Stef provide every two weeks for their Jingle Belles challenges.  It keeps the Christmas card panic at bay when November rolls around if I make a card or two for each challenge all year long.  In this case I was able to eek out two nearly identical cards.

This fortnight the challenge is "Santa Baby" (or anyone who might reside at the North Pole.)  I thought these fun BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses" papers would make a cute scene/shape card.  The little deer was fussy cut from that collection as well.

Happy Tuesday!

Something for the Big Boy challenge

Shopping Our Stash's challenge this week is "Something for the Big Boy" meaning create a card for a teenage boy or an adult male. Masculine cards don't come easy to me, but I thought these old BasicGrey papers fit the bill.  It is extremely time consuming, but I enjoy paper piecing dies...especially when I choose multiple patterned papers; that way I can make enough multiples to use all of those little pieces (in this case, hexagons!)

Both the hexagon background die and the banner die are by Papertrey Ink.  The large brick hexagon is a Creative Memories punch, then I glued it to a scrap of white card stock and fussy cut around it.  The mini glazed brads are by My Mind's Eye.

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Easter (bunny) challenge

When I saw the current challenge at Cut It Up (include a bunny on your card), I knew this would be a great way to create some last-minute Easter cards using my new stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp.  I had this 12x12 Doodlebug paper from an old collection from a couple of years ago and I was able to create eight cards from that one sheet of paper.

In real life my bunnies look a little puffy (they are marshmallow peeps bunnies, right?)  To achieve that look I xyron-ed (yep, it's a word...in the crafty world...) two sheets of white card stock, stamped, then painted on Glitter Glaze.  After the Glitter Glaze dried, I die cut them.  Super cute, right?

Link up your bunny cards (include a die cut on your card) at Cut It Up.

Supplies
paper:  Doodlebug Bazzill (purple); Doodlebug Hello Spring (stripe); Recollections 110b. white card stock
ink:  Memories yellow; Memories violet; Impress chartreuse; Close To My Heart bubblegum
Glitter Glaze:  Li'l Davis Designs clear

Have a Hoppy Easter!

Vintage challenge at Jingle Belles and A Bit O'Green

The current challenge at Jingle Belles is "The Spirit of Christmas Past" meaning using vintage ephemera or vintage-style.  This was a perfect challenge for my to pull out my October Afternoon vintage die cuts my husband gave me for Christmas (in a Simon Says Stamp card kit.)  The stamped sentiment is from the same kit from Simon Says Stamp.  My snow drift die, music die, and snowflakes die are also purchased from Simon Says Stamp.  Since the boy has a green jacket and the girl has green leg warmers, I am also entering this in the Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp: A Bit O' Green.

I am keeping up with the challenges at Jingle Belles this year and I already have a nice little pile of cards.  For some challenges (like the previous 3-layer challenge) I made three identical cards.  Today's card is unique since only one die cut of these cute carolers is in the package, but it was also completely made from scraps...bonus!

Happy Friday!

Doubly challenged/Lucky to have you

I was inspired by both the Fusion (Lucky Days) challenge and the Cut It Up (St. Paddy's Day) challenge.  I found this fun green dot paper in my 6x6 green paper stash, I found a little green card stock to coordinate for the layers, flowers, and heart, matched ink for the sentiment, and added some twine.  Both the flower punch and the lattice die are by Stampin' Up.  The white mini brads are really old stash; I'm not sure what company made them.

Happy Wednesday!

Layer it on Me!

I'm under the wire with the current Jingle Belles challenge:  making holiday cards with at least three layers...easy peasy!  I salvaged the gold and red square from my scrap heap; they were already run through the Xyron.  I'm not sure how many years (yes, years *sigh*) these were in the scrap heap, but I knew I wanted to stamp this cute reindeer; my three layers:  gold, red, white :)

Supplies:
card stock:  Recollections (white 110 lb.); XPEDX (red linen); gold mirror paper
stamps:  DeNami Designs (sentiment); Savvy Stamps (reindeer and frame)
ink:  black hybrid ink; Memories soft wheat
Copic markers:  E19 and E33
gem (reindeer nose):  Hero Arts self adhesive pearls and gems

Happy Wednesday!

30 Day Coloring Challenge

 I really enjoyed coloring this fun Hero Arts image.  It took me two days to complete (about 6 hours total.)  I love the mandala design!  I am entering my card at the 30 Day Coloring Challenge at The Daily Marker.

Here are the colors I used:

Happy Monday!

Text Me/Oh Christmas Words challenge

Lots of joy in this card; pun intended :)  

I created this card from old scraps.  When I did a craft room purge last March/April, I was about to toss this rectangle scrap with ornaments, then I also found this fun shape already cut from a previous project ("happy holidays" paper.)  There was also a coordinating scrap of yellow paper (all three papers by SEI.)  I tossed them in my scrap heap, in hopes of using them to create a holiday card for a Jingle Belles challenge.  When I saw Lauren and Stef's "Text Me" challenge, I knew I was going to use these paper scraps.  I rescued these from the scrap heap and added some really old Making Memories metal charms to the center panel.

Working on the scrap heap is one of my New Year's resolutions, along with playing along in the Jingle Belle's challenges.  Today I got it done 2-for-1 style :)

Happy Monday!

Fantastic Plastic challenge

Pink Fresh Studios makes these little acetate cards (this one has the gold branch).  The acetate card coordinated perfectly with this bit of Pink Fresh Studio 6x6 patterned paper.  I stamped "Miss You." in blue and found the coordinating blue card stock base layer in my stash.  I chose a few Neat and Tangled sequins to coordinate.  This is a shaker card, but I used my sewing machine to hold the sequins somewhat in place beneath the acetate.

Shopping Our Stash's current challenge is "Fantastic Plastic."  I hope you will shop your stash and create something fun with plastic…the SOS design team came up with some lovely ideas for up cycled plastic and acetate.

It feels good to be creating again!  We had a wonderful Florida vacation (unplugged) visiting my grandmother, my aunt, and my great aunts.  Last week we came back to wintry weather and snow days (another snow/ice day today!)  I still feel like I am playing catch up from being gone.  I needed a creativity break, so I am happy to be playing along with SOS today.

Happy Tuesday!

30 Day Color Challenge at The Daily Marker

 I really enjoy coloring.  When I make time to color, I feel relaxed, yet I rarely make time for myself to do just that.  I plan to participate as often as I can this month in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge at The Daily Marker.

I created this card from a scenic paper, stamped the sentiment, and die cut a snow drift (all from the December 2015 Simon Says Stamp card kit.)  I wanted to add more dimension and fun, so I stamped the critter and the presents, fussy cut, and colored with my Copic markers.  I used G21, W1, W3, and R29.

Tomorrow we're off to sunny Florida for a week and we will be unplugged from the internet.  Once we are home again and settled, I hope to be coloring :)

Happy Monday!

Bling on the Holidays

One of my goals for 2016 is to ensure that I play along with each Jingle Belles challenge.  I am sure to have more than enough Christmas cards by the end of November.  The challenge this fortnight is "Bling on the Holidays";  include gems, jewels, beads, sequins, glitter, pearls, etc. on your Christmas card creation.

My card began with a little square scrap the "Joy Joy Joy...Joy to the world."  The print is sort of kraft colored, so I searched my newly-sorted-by-color-6x6 paper-bin.  This orange chevron actually has thin vertical stripes of the same color!  I mounted each on kraft card stock, then added Neat and Tangled sequins (pumpkin and winter wonderland.)

I rather like my non-traditional card…can I say that?  It's so much fun to make a card out of scraps and bits.

Happy Saturday!

You've been on my mind

This card was so easy to make!  I started with this lovely 6x6 patterned paper, die cut with a large stitched rectangle die, layered, and found a lovely sentiment (sentiment and die by Simon Says Stamp.)

All inspired by this Freshly Made Sketch:

Happy Friday!

Teacher Valentine collaboration post with Marcie Sharp!

Today I am honored to be doing a collaborative post with a dear blog friend, Marcie Sharp of Sharp Designs:  Cardmaking in the Country.  Marcie is having a weekly collaboration post each week for 2016.  For this week's theme she and I decided on "Teacher Valentines."  I couldn't wait to play with this globe die that I just purchased last Wednesday.

In my stash I found this wonderful map paper by BasicGrey.  A few months ago I sorted half of my 6x6 collections by color;  I even used sandwich bags to hold color scraps smaller than 6x6 and placed each baggie in with the 6x6 pieces of the same color.  The piece of salmon ledger was a little scrap;  I punched a heart from the top right corner (heart hole now covered by the purple Bazzill circle.)  I love using up scrap pieces!  The speckled aqua paper was also a scrap in the blue section; I chose it because I like the contrast with the salmon color.

Here is my complete teacher valentine:

I used the current card sketch at Fusion challenge blog for my inspiration:

Now hop on over to Marcie's blog to check out her teacher Valentine and let her know June sent you :)

Happy Wednesday!