A Mad Hatter "Happy New Year" Card

Who enjoys parties more than the Mad Hatter?  So, a New Year celebration wouldn't be complete without him --- especially Johnny Depp style!!  Woo hoo!  Mo Manning had the riotous JD characterization of MH in mind when she created this fun image. 

I couldn't resist coloring MH in bright colors he loves so much --- with Copics, of course.  Then I had the challenge of finding paper in my stash to go along with the image.  Well, this Provo Craft Slab XI had just the right designs.  The swirling colors represent what I imagine the journey down the rabbit hole to look like: a bit psychedelic, eh?  There is nothing in my eggnog --- just a vivid (and a wee bit crazy) imagination!

Meet the Mad Hatter himself!

I'm really lousy at writing my own sentiments, but this was easy given the image and the occasion.  The font is Gigi in The Print Shop Pro Publisher.

Thanks for stopping by during 2010 and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2011.  Happy New Year!

What?! Today is December 23rd! Really???

WHAT?!  TODAY IS DECEMBER 23RD!  REALLY???

With all good intentions, I thought I would be able to finish a couple more challenges before Santa arrives.  That is just not happening!  However, I did send out almost all of the cards I made during the year.  Special thanks to Bah! Humbug! challenges for keeping me on track.  I can't wait to get started again in January!

This year has been so much fun, meeting even more wonderfully talented papercrafters and finding so many new (to me) artists.  I just don't know how I am going to keep up with all this coloring!!  But it will be fun trying!  And I became Copic Certified which was one of my top goals for the year. 

As for resolutions --- well, let's just say that I love this craft and all my friends in the blogosphere and I resolve to be a better blogger and commenter!

To all who visit here:

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

And a Joyfilled, Blessed, and Successful 2011!!!

My gift to you, enjoy some photos from the fantastic Country Christmas and Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri.  The Tree is my favorite --- half a million lights just on the tree!

Whiff of Joy Challenge #93 -- No Red or Green!

Whiff of Joy Challenge #93 is calling for no red or green.  I can do that!  Actually, I pulled out an image of Willow that I colored last year.  I still love the images, even though I definitely feel my coloring skills have improved somewhat during the year.  It's just hard to waste a colored piece.

There are actually two Whiff of Joy images here: Willow is sitting on a wooden bench which I masked in to make one image.  Both are colored with Copics.  There is just a touch of green and red in the holly on Willow's hat and muff, but I think I can slip that in.  The blue paper is a double-sided card stock from my Christmas stash.  I chose to keep the background and embellies more on the white side so the MS picket fence punch was added.  If you look closely there is sheer ribbon with little snowflakes laid just below the fence.  Snowflakes from Marcella by K&Co (actually they are flowers for wedding cards, but I like the glittery look for winter) and MS snowflake punch with clear rhinestones.  The metal tag says "believe" and who doesn't during this time of year?  It's just so hard not to believe in peace and goodness!

Here's a close-up of Willow and the bench.  This is still one of my favorite Willow images!

If you haven't been shopping at Whiff of Joy lately, you will be AMAZED at all the scrumptious new images, dies, papers and embellies.  Be sure to stop by!  Speaking of stopping by, thank you for your visit here!

Mo's Challenge #61 --- Winter Wonderland

With the temperatures forecast to plunge into the 20s here in southwest Missouri my guess is that winter is upon us!  So Mo's challenge of a Winter Wonderland is quite appropriate.  Now, I don't expect to be shoveling snow any time soon, but this image of the door and the freshly cleared stoop might not be too much of a stretch in some places.

First of all, I want to thank Sheila at Doubtfires Musings for this fantastic folded card.  I love it so much that I cut and folded until I had it figured out.  But for some really gorgeous examples pay Sheila a visit!  I actually used up some scraps of dp and card stock.  The punches are MS snowflake border and EK tree border. 

Red doors say "Welcome" so I used my favorite red shades of Copics.  The 'love' and 'jolly' embellies are 3D stickers from K&Co and the poinsetta is from Making Memories. 

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hop over to Mo's challenge blog to see the awesome DT projects.

Sassy Cheryl Challenge --- Use Two Sassy Cheryl Images

Now, I LOVE Sassy Cheryl images so using two on one stamp was not going to be a problem. but choosing which two was the challenge!  I decided on Father Christmas and Merry Christmas Forest. 

I liked the country look of the Christmas Tree dp from The Paper Studio and other pieces I matched with it, so I colored Father Christmas with Copics to coordinate with them.  For the forest I pieced the trees from the dp, a little trick I saw on another blog and if I could remember who did it I would thank them emensely for the idea!

Besides the country colors I added some piercing  and distressing for texture.  The edges of the dp are also pierced but the photos don't show that as well. Being a collector of Old World Santas I love this character!

The paper piecing was easy peasy compared to cutting around the tree trunks with an Xacto knife without slicing one -- or my finger!  But I like the look.  This is becoming one of my favorite images for simple cards as well as embellishing larger cards.

The theme is carried through to the inside using paper pieced trees as an embellishment. The sentiment is cut out from K&Co dp.

Once again I have posted two cards in one day.  Sometimes that's my way of catching up, sometimes I'm trying to get ahead.  In this case it is both.  I definitely feel like I don't know whether I am going or coming during this busy season.  Anyone else feel that way?  As long as you are here please scroll down for my first post today and take a hop over to Sassy Cheryl's for more fun and inspiration!

Mo Manning's Digital Pencil Challenge --- Glitz and Glimmer

I'm still making Christmas cards and Mo's challenge this week fits right in with festive cards.  All we had to do was add glitz or glimmer.  That's so easy to do on holiday cards!  So, (now that blogger is cooperating with the upload) here is my card:

This is North Pole Employee #3355, colored with Copics, all ready to hang some more ornaments.  The dp I chose is full of ornaments and I added sheer gold glitter ribbon over that.  The Nesties poinsettia die is invaluable at this time of year!  I used the 2 largest dies and embossed each piece with a different Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The papers are also different and were in my scrap box.  The center of the large poinsettia is a sheer layer from the set of Prima flowers that I used on the right side of the card.

In this close up you can see the sprinkle of glitter of the Prima flowers and leaves along with the glittery brads I used for the centers. I had a couple of scrolls cut with the Cricut left over from another project.  They tucked into the Nesties poinsettias nicely.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to hop over to Mo's challenge blog to see the amazing projects by the design team.  You don't want to miss these!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge --- Thinking of Love

Sassy Cheryl has a great holiday theme this week --- actually it's a great theme for any time of the year:  Thinking of Love.  I chose Cheryl's adorable dancing Santa and Mrs. Santa. This will be a special card for my sweetie, so I haven't put the sentiment inside yet.

This couple is just the cutest --- just like my hubby and me!

As you might have guessed, this is a gate fold card.  Santa and the Mrs. are colored with Copics and the fur is covered with Martha Stewart tinsel glitter.  Messy but gorgeous!  The paper is a fun scrapbook dp from my stash.  Gotta love this ribbon that looks like Santa's belt buckle.  The rhinestone embellies add even more glitz and sparkle.

Here's a close-up of Santa.  Love that tinsel glitter!

And Mrs. Santa puckering up for a winter smooch!

Love is in the air for sure here!  I hope it is at your house, too!  Wishing you a season of love now and all year long!  Thanks for stopping by!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- The Blues

The ladies at Bah! Humbug! have the blues. When they have the blues, we all have the blues, too.  Why so blue?  This is the last challenge for this year :-( . OMG what will we do?  Well, for starters, for our last challenge the theme is "BLUE".  How appropriate. Also, now is the time to begin distributing all those gorgeous Christmas cards that have been piling up all year. This has been so much fun and I can't wait to start again in January!

So, here is my blue card:

This card was sinfully simple. This image of a snow covered forest is from Penny Black and comes to life with Winter White embossing powder. It is layered on silver metallic card stock.  The blue card stock has little flecks of white, like snow.  This fabulous ribbon says it all:  Let it snow!  Add three snowflake embellies and voila!, one simply blue card.

Here's a close up of the snowy forest. The song Silent Night comes to mind about now. As much as I love December, it just won't be the same without Max, Ann, and Irene every week.  I love y'all, ladies!

Thanks for stopping by!  Actually, since you are this far, how about scrolling down just a little and taking a look at the card I posted just a little while ago.  Yep, two posts today!

Mo's Digital Pencil Too Challenge --- Swirls and Flourishes

I have two posts today to get my challenges in on time --- actually, just under the wire.  Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful! I was able to get away for five days and see some of my family and meet my son's future in-laws. The joining of Scott and Paula's lives also joins our families, and I am already crazy about Paula's parents and aunt.  I'll meet her brother later.  Good times ahead!

Back to business here:  Mo Manning's challenge this week is to use swirls and flourishes.  This was great because it gave me a chance to break out my Cricut again.  I don't use it nearly as much as I should and I found some beautiful flourishes I didn't know I had in my arsenal!  Here is my card:

Meet North Pole employee #5533 available at Digital Pencil Too.  What's not to love about this adorable elf?  She is colored with Copics.  The dp is from The Paper Studio and the buttons and embellies came in a big bag of goodies I bought last year at Hobby Lobby.  The swirls are from the Cricut Home Accents cartridge.  I love the shadow feature that gave me perfectly matched swirls in two colors.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday week and are well on your way to a Christmas filled with blessings and lots of love.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mo's Challenge Blog --- Three Punches

{This is my second post today, so please scroll on down to see a lovely lilac Christmas angel.}

This week at Mo Manning's Digital Pencil we are challenged to use three punches.  I love punches, especially the border punches, so this was very fun.  Martha Stewart and EK Success have wonderful new winter/Christmas border punches and I'm using three of them here.

The punches I used are the MS snowflake and winter town border punches and the EK pine tree border punch.  The layering of the trees and town make a cool alpine scene.  So many ideas come to mind when I use these together.  The dp is new from The Paper Studio; the country look is one of my favorites.

Soaring over this snowy village is Snowboard Santa by Mo.  This fellow is really rockin'!! I couldn't resist putting some crystal Stickles on the snowboard, otherwise he is colored with Copics.  My uncle, nearly 90 years old now, tells of his grandfather, a Norwegian, skiing across the snow-covered rolling hills of Iowa, his long red beard blowing over his shoulder.  This image always makes me think of grandpa Nels!

Yep, this was my second post today.  Now I need to get busy and prep for Thursday.  I already have one of two cheesecakes done, but much more to do. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- Lovely In Lilac..............

............ and bling!

The lovely ladies at Bah! Humbug! are making sure we stretch our creativity right up to the last card of the year!!  Oh, yes, they are gooooood!  This challenge calls for shades of lilac --- on holiday cards!  I am all for that!  Especially since I had just colored Mo Manning's "Sending Peace" angel in shade of lilac AND I have this gorgeous lavender glitter ribbon!

I brought together all kinds of fun things for this card.  The angel is colored with Copics, using the gold Spica pen for her wings.  I used embossed silver metallic cardstock and two patterns of lavender scrapbook paper.  The glitter ribbon is new to my stash from Michael's and the brads are Michael's Recollections line.  I used silk flowers, removing the centers and replacing them with the brads then stacking them with MS snowflakes punched from the silver cs.  The MS evergreen branches are more like ever-silver.  "Joy" is stamped and embossed with glitter.

This card has a lot going on, but I really love the angel, which can easily stand on her own.

This is a close-up of the sentiment stamped and embossed with glitter.

What a great challenge, ladies! I love the color and it gave me a chance to focus on details and the joy of creating when everything else this day was trying to drag me down. 

It's a busy week here in the U.S. with Thanksgiving cooking and traveling.  Among the things I am most grateful for are my friends in the blogosphere and all the inspiration I derive from the endless creativity.  I hope everyone has a meaningful and safe holiday.

A Wedding Planner

It's no secret that I am over the moon excited about my son's engagement and upcoming wedding.  Obviously, they are, too, and have already set many of the arrangements.  I started thinking back to planning my own wedding and remembered all the little details that came up; the dozens of lists, the reminders, and the contigency plans.  Then there were the funny stories, the not-so-funny stories and moments to remember.  So, I used one of the composition books I had purchased to make back-to-school gifts and made it into a Wedding Planner for Scott and Paula.

The front and back are covered with my very own dp made with photos I took of gerbera daisies.  They haven't really picked out colors yet, but Paula mentioned how much she like gerbera daisies.  On the front I placed a text box before printing the photo.

The spine is covered with white satin ribbon.

One of my favorite bride and groom images is from Mo Manning.  The tuxedo and gown are colored with Copics E00 and E000 and their hair matches Scott's and Paula's.  The heart lace medallion is cut from exquisite wedding gown lace from dresses my mom has made in the past. 

I added a ribbon marker for the inside.

Just in case Scott and Paula see this in the next couple of days, I intend to mail it off to Paula tomorrow.  I had fun making it and I hope they have fun using it.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Take good care of yourself and those you love.

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge --- Ribbon or Tulle

Another quick post tonight.  I spent the afternoon coloring all sorts of images and really enjoyed my newly discovered Sassy Cheryl images.  She's getting ready to post another challenge tomorrow so I made this simple card to get it in under the wire tonight.  I might even be too late for the challenge, but I have another card made for Christmas anyway. 

This might be one crazy snowman, but he is holding a lovely mug of something warm and creamy.  It could be hot cocoa, or a delicious latte.  In any case, he makes me smile and it will be fun to send those smiles to someone special.  The rick rack ribbon is a treasured find from the General Store in the Amanas, Iowa.  It was actually used as decoration on a Christmas tree!  Well, as any scrapper/paper crafter knows, almost anything can find its way onto our palettes!

Have a great night!  Hmmmm, I'm thinking a nice hot chocolate with a drop or two of Amaretto would make a perfect nightcap.  ZZzzzzzzzz...........