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...........

Thanksgiving Charity and a SFYTT

Today I have another Thanksgiving card ready to send to a special friend.  This one features the lovely "Charity" by Mo Manning.  The fall harvest produces such bounty of color, tastes and nourishment. 

I used this week's SFYTT (sketch for you to try) from I {heart} 2 stamp with scraps of the fall papers I've been using past few weeks.  The flower is a combination of a silk flower, Prima, and a corduroy brad.  The leaves are Martha Stewart punches.

Charity is colored with Copics, which have all the right colors for those yummy veggies in the basket.

The inside is a computer-generated sentiment and graphic from The Print Shop Pro Publisher. 

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope that your day is filled with many blessings.

Mo's Digital Pencil 2 Challenge --- Vellum or Acetate

Lydia continues as the November challenge hostess at Mo's Digital Pencil and she keeps our creative juices flowing once again.  Vellum and/or acetate is the key ingredient for our cards and projects.  If that just sparked some ideas in your imagination then you just have to join in the fun!  The design team has provided lots of inspiration, too, so be sure to hop over to the challenge for a peek.

I wanted to make a very special Thanksgiving card so I used vellum and Mo's sketch "Punkin" on an easel card.

Punkin is colored with Copics.  He is so adorable! Behind Punkin is a piece of antiqued vellum torn on one side.  The greeting is computer-generated and sits on a torn piece of orange vellum.  Scattered maple leaf brads follow the flow of the sentiment.

Here's a close-up of Punkin.

The inside of the easel card features a fantastic cloth ribbon of scarecrows and cornfields. I've been looking for an excuse to use this ribbon.  The vellum pieces carry over from the front and a few more leaves.  The sentiment is computer-generated, too.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only 10 days away!  I hope you have been plans to join with family and friends to kick off the holiday season --- not to mention the football bowl games!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- Rudolph/Reindeer

You know that Christmas is getting closer when the mall is full of shoppers, many of them sporting antler headgear and red Rudolph noses.  Some of those noses are actually red because of colds and cold weather!  The girls at Bah! Humbug! are hoping to round up a herd of reindeer -- including Rudolph -- with this week's challenge.

I took advantage of this challenge to dust off my long-neglected Cricket to make the two pretty reindeer on this card:

I used gold metallic card stock for the reindeer and brown metallic for the shadow cut.  The dp is from My Mind's Eye Christmas stack.  The fern, gold holly leaves and ribbon are from the Christmas aisles at Michael's.  Behind the reindeer is a Nesties curved rectangle embossed with Cuttlebug swirls folder.  The sentiment 3D sticker is new from K&Co. 

Inside is the second reindeer, made with the same papers as the one on the front.  Also is a smaller rectangle to match the front.  The sentiment is computer generated. 

I started making this card with nothing in particular in mind except the reindeer.  It took awhile to lay it all out, but I am pretty happy with it.  I hope you like it, too!  Thanks for stopping by for a look. 

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- Fancy Folds

Our fun and fancy friends at Bah! Humbug! have us in a folding frenzy as they start the final month of fabulous challenges for the festivities fast approaching.  (oops! I think my 'f' key just broke!)  The challenge this week is, you guessed it, Fancy Folds. You just have to hop over and see their projects.  But first, please take a look at my cute and simple step card.  No stamping required!

 This was my first center step card and I found the very helpful video at Dawn's Stamping Studio.  It looks a bit complicated but is really quite simple. 

 I found these adorable foam penguins and snowmen with Santa hats at Michaels.  There is actually a very cute penguin dp in the center panel, but it doesn't show up very well.  There will definitely be another project showcasing that fun paper.  The foam glittery snow flakes are from a stash I've been using for a couple of years.  The sentiments are computer generated.  This is a good project for using up scraps of card stock from other projects, too.

Here's a side view.  The secret's in the folds.

My New 'TUDE!

Well, what a surprise when I hopped over to check in on Cheri and Monster kitty Graphicat Creations  only to find that she has nominiated my blog for "Attitude" blog award. 

Isn't this great?!  Now it's my turn to list three things that give me the 'Tude and nominate 5 more bloggers with Attitude!

1.  I love my camera and my Copics equally

2.  I love to be in my studio which never stays neat and tidy for more than one project

3.  I love my big black truck!

Now for 5 of my favorite bloggers who have the 'Tude:

1. Peggy, the Wired Angel

2. Heather and her Fresh Brewed Designs

3. Donna and her Popsicle Toes

4. Lorie at her Thinkin' Spot

5. Gloria's Gingerbread and Pansies

Digital Pencil 2 Challenge --- What's in Your Pocket?

Pockets?  Hmmm.... there are pants pockets and shirt pockets; pockets of air and pockets of time; and pockets on cards.  The challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil 2 is all about pockets.  If you hop over to see the design team's projects you will see lots of amazing pockets.  But, first, here is my card with a hidden pocket:

Mo Manning's image called "Bella Loves Christmas" is so beautiful and very fun to color.  She is colored with Copics, my favorite media!  The sketch is from I {Heart} to Stamp SFYTT and I thought I read in Jen's write up that a Campbell's soup can label was the inspiration.  Any whooo, it's a fun sketch and worked well for the surprise..... which you will see shortly.

Here is a close up of Bella.  I imagined her dress to be shiny taffeta and the bauble to be delicate red glass. She is sitting on a Spellbinders Lattice Pendant.

Yesterday at Michael's I found lots of great new Martha Stewart punches.  This one is the jumbo gift boxes border punch. I think it will get a lot of use in the next few weeks!

And here is the surprise:  The pocket contains the sentiment card.  It could also contain a gift card or special personal message.

Other materials used:

DP is Paper Studio

Scrolls from Cuttlebug Ornaments die

"Joy" sticker is new from K&Co

Ribbon and bling from my stash.

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you have a terrific week! 

Vintage Christmas Notecards

Just a quick post to show some of the note card sets I've been working on this week.  I love vintage, especially at Christmas, so when I found the Dover Publications Vintage Christmas clip art CD I just had to get busy!

These are all A2 size cards, 10 to a box.  I added various accenting cardstocks and border punches on some of them.  This is just a sampling -- I have seven more sets to put together -- so far!  Some have sentiments inside and others are just blank for personalized notes. 

Well, I'm off to shoot two weddings this afternoon, but will be back to making cards later!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weekend is all you want it to be.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- Presents!

Who doesn't love PRESENTS??  The ladies at Bah! Humbug! want to see lots of them this week!  Which brings up a question:  Have you started your Christmas and Holiday shopping yet?  I have a couple of friends that probably been finished since August!  You know who you are!  My challenge is getting enough Christmas cards done for sending and for selling.  That's why I love Bah! Humbug! so much -- the weekly challenges have kept me pretty much on track and you can be sure I will be following this challenge in 2011, too!  With that said, I'd better move on to this week's card!

I was so excited when my friend Peggy introduced me to Sassy Cheryl digistamps.  These are fun and adorable!  When I saw this snowman laden with presents I knew I had my image for this week's Christmas card.  For the card I colored the image with Copics then kept the sketch free of dp.  But I did add texture (my favorite element) with the Cuttlebug 5x7 brocade embossing folder.  As if this little guy doesn't have enough presents, I took scraps of card stock and ribbon and added more!  The sentiment is a rub-on. 

There is still plenty of time to get cards made and the ladies at Bah! Humbug! have plenty of ideas in mind to get you going!  Hop on over there and take a look at their inspiring projects.  Thanks for stopping by today!  I appreciate your time and comments.

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge --- Pick A Season

Clever challenge, Dawn!  Dawn is the Digital Pencil challenge hostess for October and she has given us free rein to choose a season for this week's card or paper project. 

We just finished up the Halloween season and are heading toward Thanksgiving.  The leaves are turning color and falling into crunchy piles along the roadway.  The chill in the air carries the aroma of fireplaces and the daylight hours are waning much earlier.  With winter snows and freezing temperatures not far off, you might think that I'd be dreaming about warm days at the beach.  Well, not so fast --- I do enjoy autumn, especially since I missed this season for the 30 years I lived in Phoenix.  So, my card for the DP Challenge is definitely an autumn theme.  I'll save dreaming of the beach for January!

This image is "Sadie with Apples".  Apples are, of course, one of the many delicious fruits of fall and Sadie has a basketful of my favorites, Braeburns.  Well, that's what I imagine to be in the basket.  Yum!

I colored Sadie with Copics and die cut the image with the deckle Nesties.  The DP and flowers are from my scrap pile (gotta use them sometime!) and the leaves are created with Martha Stewart punches.  A few rhinestones for sparkle and a sentiment suggesting the inside of the card will reveal one of the many things I am thankful for. 

Today I am thankful for the ability to create cards using amazing images like Sadie, for the materials that keep me ever challenged, for my blogging friends who encourage me and share their talents and ideas, and for another day that I feel God's blessings in my life.

Here's a special "thank you" to Peggy for treating me to a luxurious day of cardmaking and learning new techniques.  Especially for the great conversation and laughs.  Mwaahh!  Love ya, Peggy!