another Christmas card...inspiration Hero Arts Blog

I wish this card photographed better, cause in real life it is so very sparkly....I saw a video on the Hero Arts Blog that Julie Ebersole did...I had the "Three Trees" stamp set from Hero Arts long before I knew of PTI...so I pulled them out and stamped them with a touch of Simply Chartruese on one side of the tree and then Ripe Avocado on the other side...after that was dried I cut out the tree and dragged the tree across my glue pad...then I spread some glitter all over the trees.  I used the snowdrift dies from PTI and edged them with the chamomile tea dye and rubbed the edge into the glue pad and added glitter to the top of the snow drifts...The sentiment is from the 2010 Holiday Tags stamp set...Thanks for stopping in and taking a look.

Make It Monday #39: Multi-stamp Background Building

Every Monday morning it is a new Make It Monday on the Papertrey blog showcased by Nichole Heady, one of the owners of the company!  And today, Nichole showed in the video how to use your stamps to make your own background paper...So I pulled out "Peaceful Poinsettia" since I am still in the Christmas card making mode!!  Everything used was from that stamp set, except the die cut is from Half and Half.  This was very fun to make and it ties it all together which I love...I think I will start looking for more stamps to do backgrounds for Christmas cards!!

In the Meadow is AWESOME!

I was blown away by the In the Meadow stamp set and all the cards that Debbie Olson designed...so I figured why mess with a good thing...here are some of the ones I did...

Tremendous Treats: Christmas

I have loved the little Tiny Treats:  Christmas and was really excited to see some of my favorite stamps be increased in size...now they are perfect for a card....I used the little bird on the fir branch and colored him in...I must admit to CAS-ing Debbie Olsons blog...she colored this little bird also.  I have stamped all of the stamps from this set onto tags...I still need to color them, but they are just perfect for filling up the tags.  I added some stickles to the trim of the bird hat and the little pom pom too...oh and then I couldn't resist adding some to the branches...just looks like a light dusting of sparkly snow!!

 

Unity Stamps and Card

Isn't he just one cute little snowman all bundled up??  I loved him when I first saw him at Super CHA in Chicago last summer.  He is an "Itty Bitty" by Unity and he came with the sentiment "winter joy"...I die cut the snow mounds from a PTI die and edged it with the chamomile duo dye ink and added some glitter to the top..He is so cute.

A card from a PB & J Card Sketch

http://pennyblackinc.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/pbj-monday-with-jill-card-sketch/ 

The sketch came from the Penny Black blog listed above...and I had some "inchies" so I decided to try my hand at it...I just received a PTI order with those darling Tremendous Treats: Christmas...I couldn't resist using them for this card...the sentiment is actually from the original Tiny Treats:  Christmas.

Make It Monday #38 Brayer Techniques

I don't have too many impression plates, but I do have this one...so I inked it up with Simply Chartruese and some Aqua Mist...I die cut edgers Die #1 and sewed a piece of Dotty Biscotti onto it...Merry Christmas is from Stylish Sentiments:  Holiday, I embossed with white embossing powder.  The December 25 stamp is from Holly Jolly...thanks for taking a look.

Make It Monday #37: Layered Mats and Frames 2nd card

I used the PTI Vintage Labels for the outline of the label and heat embossed with silver powder.  I used the Peace be Still bird and sentiment which I embossed white for the bird and silver for the word.  The paper is Aqua Mist for the label and Enchanted Evening for the inside...I added some ribbon and a couple of blings to the side.  The background paper is from DCWV holiday collection.

Make It Monday #37: Layered Mats and Frames

It took me all week to try to come up with a design...I wanted to use the Half & Half Dies, but I didn't want to cut it all the way through...so I laid the die on my paper, and marked where I wanted to stop and set the die off the paper...then I ran it through the die cutter and stopped at my mark.  I then used a craft knife to cut off the end of the piece...I stamped a Christmas sentiment on pink paper and stamped a row of holly at the bottom. Then I very carefully laid the smallest of the Holly Jolly dies in the two top corners and cut them out.  I attached this to an avocado green paper and added some berries with a hole punch.  I cut out two more sets of holly and added them at the bottom of the card...I adhered this layer to Pure Poppy CS and then to the Rustic White Card.

A Group Posting of Christmas Tags

I certainly didn't want to wear you all out scrolling through the post with a lot of tags, so I took a group picture...most of them were made with Love Lives Here: Holiday and also the new Tag Its' #8...oh and it looks like I threw in a Holly Jolly die tag!!

Christmas Tags

Perusing blogs like I do...I again ran into Jill Foster and really liked the tags she created...she has them on the Penny Black blog with a video...so using the stamps I had on hand I made a few and my husband was particularly impressed with them...he asked how I got them to look so antiquey!!  (it's a secret, right girls?)  I am still working on that technique with the Tim Holtz sponge ink blending tool and the distress inks...I think it does take a knack for doing it just right without having a big glob on the paper or...where you can actually see the rectangle shape of the foam...yeah, that is not a good look at all...So here are the tags I made trying to duplicate what Jill  Foster made...

This one is NOT part of the distressing tags...but I made it and decided to include in this posting..

A series of "Thank You" cards

These cards are not being made under the best of situations.  My MIL's health is failing and we have her under hospice care.  She has received some flowers and another little handmade gift and she wanted to send a thank you card, so I brought over several for her to choose from...and I thought I best start making a lot of these as we will need them in the coming days or God willing, months...I tried to keep them very simple so I could mass produce without a lot of thought ...I have made several using the same layout, maybe even different color flowers (I tend to get bored making the same exact card more than three times!)

Thanks for taking a look.

Make It Monday #37: Layered Mats and Frames ~ a second card

For this card, I started out with a tag...I cut two of the tags in the kraft cs...then I cut out another tag using  rustic cream.  I carefully centered the scallop circle from the Limitless Layers on one of the kraft tags and cut it out.  The bird is die cut from the Little Bitty Birds and the green branch is from Love Lives Here:  Holiday.  I added a a strip of paper with the edgers die #1...

Make It Monday #37: Layered Mats and Frames

I used the Mat Stack #4 and the Mat Stack #2, then carefully aligning the 1.75 circle, I punched out the circle from the #2...I used the wreath and sentiment from Autumn Tags 2009 and I used versamark for the leaves on the background card...the leaves are from Fall Elegance.  I have liked what Nichole has been doing with cutting a half circle on the side and tying off with a ribbon or twine...pretty simple and easy.  A nice Thanksgiving kind of card.

Another card from the Love Lives Here: Holiday

I just love that cute little angel...I really am a "homespun" kind of girl...so this simple little angel really touches my heart...My BFF gave me this great Martha Stewart scalloped edge die and so I put it to good use with this card...cut it out twice in red, attached a green strip to the center to tie it all together...and then because I had the angel holding a little holly branch, I thought I would use the holly strip from Holly Jolly and emboss it...I think it turned out nice!  I embossed the "peace" from Peace Be Still set...another Christmas card done.

Love Lives Here: Holiday

This is such a great stamp set...so many very cute images...however, I was having a bit of a "mojo blockage"...so I went to the designers and cased their cards...that has helped tremendously...now I can start getting creative...in the meantime...this is somewhat of a duplication of their great design work...

Make It Monday #35: Custom Stamped Washi Tape Card # 2

I gave it one more go at the Washi Tape...I looked through my stamps sets to find the smallest "Christmas" stamps I could and decided to use the 1/4 inch score tape instead of the xyron...this was much easier to deal with and to peel off...so I stamped strips with different Christmas themes, mounted them on a piece of enchanted Evening paper, I cut out a dainty doily and stamped the snowflake from Tag It's #8...cute little snowman in the center...the Merry Christmas sentiment at the bottom is again from the Merry Little Christmas stamp set...Washi style!

Make It Monday #35: Custom Stamped Washi Tape

This is what I came up with for the Custom Stamped Washi Tape that Nichole Heady demonstrated on her blog for the Make It Monday Technique.  And this was NOT an easy task...I only had 1/4 inch size score tape, but I did have a xyron machine and I had read that some people were able to make it work and loved it!  So I gave it a try...first I had a lot of trouble putting the tissue paper through the machine without it getting all wrinkled...then some of the ink smeared...finally I decided the best was to put the strip of tissue paper through the xyron, then stamp it and then cut it out.  Finally...very slowly, I peeled it back, similar to what you do when you are adhering the stamp labels on the CD cases...And VOILA...it worked!  I really wanted to use the half and Half die to make a nice little end for my tape, but that just wasn't working for me...and I knew I wanted to add a bow anyway, so I just left it with a straight cut.  But I must say, I do like the looks of it...but it took a couple of hours to come up with something that was decent...the first card I made the picture showed too many wrinkles...so I had to start all over and be more careful.  Will I make more of the Washi Tape?  Probably NOT!!  However...I do like learning new techniques...and who knows one day I may just have to do it again!!

Getting Ready for Women Of Faith Conference

My daughters and I have been going to the Women of Faith for about 5 years now...it is an all day Friday event, a little three hour break in the late afternoon and then from 7 - 10pm.  Saturday we go back from 9 - 5.  There are fabulous speakers...so inspirational and lots of great singing...and it is a fun time to share the event with friends and family.  We always take our break and go for a big walk that leads us to a restaurant where we share a meal...or one year my group went up to OHSU to visit a friend who was suppose to attend the WOF, but her son was taken to the hospital earlier that day...he ended up dying later that night.  So our small group of four went to visit and give support and strength to our friend...we do what ever needs to be done.  I always make some little treat to share with the girls...and we all know that DARK CHOCOLATE is good for us, right?  So here is the treat for this year:

Make It Monday #34: Thick Chipboard Accents Card # 4

I pulled out the Sweet As Can Be stamp set and dies...who can resist chocolate and strawberry ice cream for their birthday?  Of course, in our family we go for the self serve frozen yogurt from the Yogurt Shack!!  And this month we have a few new flavors...Praline and Pumpkin...add a little graham crumbs to the pumpkin, along with some whip cream and you almost have yourself a pumpkin pie...in yogurt form and it is so good for you too!!

Make It Monday #34: Thick Chipboard Accents Card # 3

MIM ...thick chipboard accents...the smaller butterflies are made with a Martha Stewart punch, the larger butterfly is from Butterfly Dreams.  The sentiment is from Beautiful Blessings, the stamp is Harvest Berries.  It seemed perfect for butterflies to be with this sentiment...they are, after all, God's perfect little miracle...

Here is a side shot of the thick butterflies...

World Card Making Day - 2nd card

Still using some of the leaf stamps from Verve, I stamped them on a Kraft card...then I added a Delightful Doily and the sentiment from Fall Elegance...a couple strips of ribbon and I called it good... I did cut the front side of the card with the edgers die #1 and I added a strip of the leaves on the edge of the inside of the card...if that makes sense!

World Card Making Day Oct. 1, 2011

I had a stamp set from Verve called Happiness Found...I totally cased a card by Laurie Schmidlin...http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/happiness-found.html  I had the Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas from the Online Card class...so I put it to good work here... now, since I wasn't sure if this would be a card sent in an envelope or not...I chose to cut out my buttons, color them up with the ink pad and then run the twine through them...I did add several layers to the larger button die to add some dimension...Oh, I think I can enter this in PTI's MIM!

Happy World Card Making Day...hope you all were able to escape real life for a while and create a card!