Merry Monday #225 and Christmas Card Challenge #1

I have another Christmas card ready for next year's stash and it's for Merry Monday.

They asked for candy canes and I gave them candy canes.  These are from Catherine Pooler stamped in HA Pale Tomato.  I added some extra candies and tied in their color with the border around the sentiment.

Thanks to Joyce, I heard about another Christmas card challenge, aptly called Christmas Card Challenge and they also have the option of candy canes so I'm sending my card over there too.

So much to do and so little time left.  I hope your preparations are done or nearly done.

Just Us Girls #373

It's trend week at Just Us Girls and Nancy has chosen 'Jars'.

There are pint jars and quart jars.  Jars of jam or jars to hold a spring bouquet.  Whatever you imagine a jar being or doing, make it into a card. You could be Chic of the Week and possibly guest design for a month.  I used my jars to hold Christmas candy.

The jars and candy are from PTI, stamped on Bristol board and colored with Zigs.  Yes I see that smudge on the side of the candy canes.  I tried to add some shading to the jar and the red ran.  I think it looks like a shadow on the glass.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)  In fact I smudged a little green to make it look like I did it on purpose.

Time to check out what the rest of the Design Team and guest Designer Theresa Gregory have made to inspire you.  I hope we see you in the gallery.

The Card Concept #63

I recently got this PB stamp that I thought was perfect for the challenge at The Card Concept.

Jill Foster has some terrific videos over at Penny Black and I tried to emulate her in stamping the cones and berries.  It's easy to do with the MISTI but I did find I may need to invest in some different markers.  I tried it first with some old Marvy Markers and the image was okay but I lacked enough colors to do much shading.  For this card I used my Zigs, coloring on the stamp and spritzing the first time, then coloring and stamping again and again until I had what I wanted.  I cut some squares of woodgrain pp and mounted the Memory Box letters after inking around the edges. At the last minute I decided to add some spatters.  Here's their photo.  I think you can see what inspired me.

I have a few other new stamps that I'm anxious to try out.  If the weather forecast holds true, I may be hibernating and crafting my little heart out.

ETA:  I keep forgetting about Kylie's 12 Days of Christmas.  I'm going to send my card over there too.

Tag You're It! #62

Laurie Willison has a darling little tag to inspire you this week on Tag You're It!

I kept the scalloped edge, die cut sentiment and line of images and then made a few changes.

The 'tag' is a scalloped rectangle from Neat and Tangled.  I've wanted the square scalloped tag from PTI for quite a while and it has been out of stock. I just got the notice it's back but do I really need it now?  I'll have to think about it. ;) The ornaments are from Essentials by Ellen colored with Zigs and the word die is from Elizabeth Crafts cut from an old paper pad.

The Design Team has some terrific tags to inspire you so I hope you'll go take a look.  We'd love to see your tag in the gallery.

Inspired by All the Little Things #35

I'd say I'm doing much better at being 'inspired' rather than taking photo challenges too literally.  Case in point - my card for Inspired by All the Little Things.
The photo:

My card:

See?  Not a snowman to be found.  But you can see (barely) clear embossed snowflakes on the white, red polka dots and holly.

Thanks for taking time to drop by today.

CAS(E) This Sketch #

I have all my Christmas cards made, addressed and ready to mail.  I got it done because of all the cards I made after last year's went out.  Now I'm starting on next year's with one for CAS(E) This Sketch.

I did some Altenew ordering on Black Friday and got this Poinsettia and Pine set.  I stamped and watercolored with Distress Inks and added a NBUS PB sentiment in Platinum embossing.

Do you see what I see?  This is CAS(E) This Sketch's 200th challenge.  They're having a celebration and a prize offering.  You might want to check it out.  I love playing in this challenge.

The Heart Desires - December

Guess who's a guest designer at The Heart Desires?  I won challenge #4 with this card and Katie asked if I'd like to be their guest for December.  Of course I say yes.  This is the inspiration photo for the December challenge. Beautiful, no?  

There are so many things here to spark your imagination - the season, the images, the colors.  This is not the original photo I had to inspire my card but it still works.

The trees dies are from SSS cut with three colors of glitter paper.  They're on a vellum panel gifted to me by Michele which has been stamped with a sentiment from PB.  The photo isn't the best because it's a much softer color IRL.

The Heart Desires design team has some wonderful cards for you to see. Why not check them out. You may be inspired to make a card for the gallery.

Addicted to Stamps and More #223

It's time for the Holiday Challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  Hmmm I wonder what Holiday you'll choose. ;)  If you're like me, you probably need a number of Christmas cards.

I found the black sparkle embossed ribbon card front in my UFO box and cut it down to gift size.  It needed a background and I thought this stamp from PB made it look like the present was under the tree.  The tag was white embossed, inked with Festive Berries and tied on with twine.

There is a lot of inspiration for you over on the blog and if that's not enough we have two sponsors, both offering digital images to the winner of the challenge:  QKR Designs and Stamplorations.

I hope to see you there.

Time Out #71

I guess 'glitter' must be a popular Christmas card item because there are over 200 entries at Time Out.  I'm adding mine too.

I masked off the center of the card, put embossing paste through a stencil, covered it with gold glitter powder and heated it.  The sentiment was stamped and embossed with the same glitter.

I almost have my cards ready to send out.  I may need a few more but there are challenges coming up that will fix that.  I'd better get going on them though.  Their deadlines are fast approaching while I'm doing other things.

CASology #226

Just a quick post before I miss the deadline for CASology.   I was having trouble with my card but it came together tonight.

The stamp from PB is colored with Inktense Pencils.  Quick and easy, clean and simple, once I got the stamping down and used the right paper.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your week gets off to a great start.

Merry Monday #224

Merry Monday is asking for masculine cards and my new paper pad provided just what I needed for my background.

The tree and deer are from PB.  I stamped the tree first in white and then in dark green and was pleasantly surprised that it really does look like snowy branches.  A simple sentiment from HLS was all I needed.

I've just about exhausted my stash of unposted cards. I spent the day working on a quilt so hopefully I can spend tomorrow working on more cards.  Or getting the ones I have ready to mail. 

Addicted to CAS #102 and AAA Cards #78

Addicted to CAS is celebrating their 4th birthday.  I made them a card of congratulations.  Actually they asked for it but it's definitely appropriate and heart felt.

I die cut the word from pp and then stamped the balloons in coordinating colors. The strings are hand drawn.

I used round balloons on purpose so I could also enter this card in the AAA Cards challenge - Circles.

That's all for me for now.  Have a great weekend.

Just Us Girls #372

It's word week at Just Us Girls and I bet you can guess what word Nancy chose.

Very appropriate, don't you think?  The only problem is which tree stamp/die to use.  I got a cutie from CP in my SOA box and had to try it out.

These are not the colors you normally think of for a Christmas card but that tree called for something different. It took me forever to figure out a background that didn't overpower the tree.  I tried out a number of things and then *ping* - why not stamp ornaments?  They are from Neat and Tangled, as is the sentiment. Charcoal ink and slate cs were just what it needed for some contrast.

The rest of the design team and guest designer Theresa Gregory  have some wonderful Christmas trees for your enjoyment and inspiration.  If you make a card and enter it in the gallery, you may be chosen Chic of the Week and a possible guest designer spot.

I hope to see you there.

Inkspirational #122

The word at Inkspirational is "Chill" and while the younger generation think 'Calm down.  Relax' I thought of my snowpeople who haven't seen ink a a while.

This is another Zig coloring project.  I love Zigs for getting into small spaces. I'm getting chilly just looking at them although it may be the falling temperatures and the rain/snow mix that's falling outside.  It's a good day for staying inside and crafting.

I'm glad you took the time to drop by and I hope you have some time to craft too.

IBATLT #34

Lately the challenges have had some wonderful homey Christmas photos to inspire us and Inspired by All the Little Things gave us this one.

I would love it if this was in my own house.  I like everything about it except for the reference to cold. ;)  I think you can see how I was inspired although if I had more time I'd go a different direction.

A stamp by Clearly Besotted takes center stage stamped in HA Unicorn White.  I tried heat embossing but even with my anti-static tool I had white everywhere.  I think this looks more chalkboard-y anyway.  The stripe is a leftover from a CP background stamp, the frame is embossed and inked with Hickory Smoke.  When looking for something else I ran across the little tree die I've had forever and forgotten about.  They added just the right finishing touch.

I added a number of people to my Christmas list this morning.  Now I need to go count my cards and see if I have enough.  What about you?