An easy and pretty card to start off the Christmas season.
A little glitter and a little Elegant Eggplant on a lovely piece of Almost Amethyst.... I used the Punch Pals set for the center piece along with the Scallop Punch and some circle punches. I glittered up the center circle and the edges of the Amethyst square. Instead of Whisper White, I used Shimmery White. The sentiment comes from the Best Yet hostess set (it's not too late to earn this set by having a party!).
Happy creating!
What a great time to be thankful for all of your blessings! Especially this year, family and friends mean so very much when we are going through tough times. We pull together and share the love.
I made this card earlier today and then just now I took a peak at Beate's Inspiration Challenge and this card fits right in!
The color scheme is based on the Autumn Vine Designer Series Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I used the Holidays and Wishes and Perennial Favorites (retired) stamp sets. For the tag, I colored the leaf with markers for a variegated effect then I embossed the entire tag with clear embossing powder. I embossed the sentiment in brown. I used a cute little library clip and tied linen thread to it. I also used Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. I added a little paper piercing too.
Again, enjoy your holiday!
I'm trying to get in to the holiday mood.... It's really hard because I wanted summer to last longer, then all of a sudden it was fall, and now winter is fast approaching.
I used Beate's sketch for this card. She posts a new sketch every Friday. If you haven't taken a look at her cards, you should. They are awesome! Anyway, I pulled out my Jolliest Time of the Year snowman and stamped him with black stazon on to Shimmery White cardstock. Then I painted him with a wet brush and ink. You can't really see the Baja Breeze shading. I punched him out with the labels punch and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy (which I used for the sentiment as well). The cardstock is Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss and the DSP is retired from last year. I can't remember offhand what it was called but it was the holiday paper with snowflakes and all that.
Ok, the brads are not SU, they look like real silver and they are from "All Sorts of Things". I've had them for YEARS and I only have 6 left. Then, of course, the snowflakes are from the Little Felt Flurries.
Well, I guess I can start thinking about Christmas now.
Pull out your calendars and mark this down... "Espresso Yourself" at Mugs Coffee on December 6. Come on in and make some holiday cards and enjoy the best coffee, espresso and pastries in town! More details coming soon!!!
So I still had all these supplies out from the previous card that I made and I thought I should just roll with it....
Check out Jen's sketch that I used for this card. Again the designer paper is Haiku and I just love the colors... Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, So Safron and More Mustard. I did throw in a little Tangerine Tango too. The set is Eastern Blooms which I only used for the big Tangerine flower. It's embossed with clear powder and then I added some yellow glitter to the center. Other embellishments are buttons with linen thread tied in the button holes. A very simple card but I really like how bright and colorful it is.
Thanks for stopping by!!
Wow!!! My Thanksgiving Book (one post down) was a featured runner-up for Book of the Week on Card of the Week.com. Check it out here!
Here's a little card that I whipped up last night. I wanted to get this dont in time for Kazan's sketch challenge, but I don't think I made it....
I rarely make square cards but I thought it would be good for this sketch. I really love the vibrant colors in the Haiku Designer Series papers: Pumpkin Pie, So Safron, More Mustard, and Old Olive. The Eastern Blooms set goes perfectly with this paper. Every flower has been embossed before being cut out. You'll never guess that I used the poinsettia from Season of Joy on the Olive DSP - clear embossed, sponged with Old Olive and then cut out - for the leaves. I can't remember where the rick rack is from - I pulled it out of my ribbon bin.
Enjoy your Sunday!
First photo is the cover of my little Thanksgiving Book. I used a 6x6 clear album, Autumn Vine Designer Series Paper, and Season of Friendship stamp set. The color combo is Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I used Chocolate Chip grograin ribbon and linen thread, buttons and punches on some of the pages. It was really fun to put this book together with the various patterned paper and colors peaking through. After Thanksgiving I will add photos and journaling. Check out two of the inside layouts. Enjoy!
I snuck in this little card instead of working on bazaar items.... Check out the KwernerDesign blog for a weekly (I think?) color inspiration challenge. The turn around on her challenge is really quick so this is the first time I've been able to jump in. This card came together really fast.
The colors in the challenege were Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White (I used Shimmery White). The two sets are Jolliest Time of the Year and Cute and Curly. the ribbon is white organdy and Olive 5/8" grosgrain. I dressed it up with olive buttons and linen thread plus piercing. I'd love this to be the card I send out for the holidays, but all the piercing would make me a crazy woman!!!
Two fun items: First, I love to take online classes at BigPictureScrapbooking and a few days ago they had a contest on their blog to win a spot in the class "A Life Well-Crafted" by Kolette and Jason Hall, a very inspirational couple. This class is more about creating a happy life for yourself then scrapbooking however there will be projects all year long. So I was to leave a comment with my favorite quote and they will pick a person at random. So I left a quote that means a lot to me: "Success... to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!" Well, I was selected!!!! See this post. It's really a big deal, because this is a year-long class. I am so happy!!!
Second, my step-mom emailed me today and is thinking about sending my dad up for Christmas vacation!!! They live in Texas and she generally goes to Shreveport, Louisianna to spend the holidays with her mom and relatives. My dad usually stays home and before he was retired, he would work so that others in his group could spend Christmas with their families. Well, he has had a few health issues lately and shouldn't be home alone for 2 weeks. I will be really excited if he comes up here since I have been really worried about him and I haven't seen him in 2 years. YAY!
Thanks for stopping by and get busy creating - Christmas is just 7ish weeks away!!!
Happy Monday!
Actually it's really late on Sunday night, but by the time this posts it'll be Monday! This weekend was really busy.... I worked at Mugs Coffee Saturday morning, the afternoon was a Stmapin' Up! workshop (party is a much better word!) where I met some neat ladies. That was fun! In the evening I went to a potluck with my Portland to Coast walking team. It was the DVD release party featuring a bunch of photos that our team took during the walk. In an earlier post, I included a photo of our team dressed as Wonder Woman. We get lots of attention and it is super fun (except the walking part). Anyway, this DVD was hilarious - I wish I could share it with all of you! So I didn't get as much crafting done as I wanted but I did make this card...
My favorite sketch artist is Jenn del Muro at I{heart}2stamp and she shares a sketch every Saturday. I really try to make a card based on her sketch every weekend. For this week I pulled out my Hidden Garden Designer Series Paper and started with cutting out layers of the flower then I put them together with bits of cardstock inbetween. I didn't use dimensionals because I felt they would be too thick.
I pulled the colors out of the striped paper which are Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Whisper White, and Kiwi Kiss. The sentiment and little flowers are from the Bella's Blooms set and the flourish is from the Baroque Motifs set. The last bits of embellishing are the Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon and paper piercing in the corners of the Kiwi Kiss layer.
I am busy working on a Thanksgiving Book that I am offering as a class on Saturday, Nov. 22 (see my class schedule: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/desiree/events) and I am loving how it is coming together! I will post a photo here on Tuesday evening.
Tomorrow I'll be spending the day at work doing last minute things for the Community Pride Design Awards ceremony... Several months of work lead up to this event which I am really glad to be a part of. This year I did quite a bit of the organizing and coordinating. About 12 years ago all I did was take photos of the projects and create the invitations and certificates. So my role has grown alot over the years.
In the evening I'll be attending book club. Word is we will be reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I have wanted to read this for awhile so I am excited about that!
Ok, I am off. Long day coming up..... Thank you for stopping by. Please leave comments, they are fun to read!
Here is sweet lil' Teddybella! Isn't she about ready to pop! As I mentioned in my previous blog I received this image from another stamper through the WishRAK group on Splitcoaststampers. A really fun way to try before you buy!
I also used my very first Nestability, Labels I. Colors are Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip. I haven't used Bashful Blue in ages... The strip of DSP is from the SU Holiday Treasures pack. I also used the Ronald McDonald House set "Say it with Scallops". Remember, we got that one from UPS at convention.
So I used Jen's sketch for this one. This is really just a very simple card but coloring was fun. I am trying to hone my skill in that area since I don't do it very often.
Thanks for stopping by and stamp a little something!!!
So these two cards are from sketches of a week or so ago. The first one is one of Beate's sketches. I has some leftover BoHo paper. I used Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla. A very simple color combo. For the half circle at the bottom I used Boho Backgrounds. Even though I used my circle cutter it looks lopsided. You can't really tell but the PP cardstock is textured. The ribbon is the wide grosgrain. Don't you love all the new ribbon options in the SU catalog?
Wow, November is here. How was your trick-or-treating? The weather here was SO NICE! Totally unbelievable. It was rainy in the morning so I was thinking there would be no way it would be dry in the evening, but it was. And warm enough to leave coats at home!
Lillianna went to the movies with her boyfriend. She had received her first paycheck so I think she was excited about that. Emily and her boyfriend did go trick-or-treating but not to too many houses. Down the street was a haunted house that we went through. It was a fundraiser for an organization that gives out pet food to families in need. So the entry fee was pet food. A great idea and a fun and scary haunted house.
It was kinda funny.... I was already in my jammies (I change the minute I get home from work) and Emily gave me her fairy wings to wear when we walked down the street. Some kids thought I was dressed as the tooth fairy and asked my if I was passing out candy, heeheehee. I told them the tooth fairy would never pass out candy! Cuz it causes tooth decay!
This second card is with my new favorite stamp set, Season of Friendship, from the Winter Mini. I based this one on one of Jen's sketches. The colors are Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, and Kiwi Kiss, plus a smidge of So Safron. The striped background is Basic Grey Mellow. I also did some paper piecing and distressing. I like this card alot.
I signed up for the WishRAK group on Splitcoaststampers which is where you can request wishes of stamped images or suppliles that you don't have. You wish and you grant wishes. So I wished for images of Stamping Bellas. I always feel so guilty when I use stamps from other companies, heeheehee. Anyway, my wish was granted with Teddybella, a pregnant bella carrying shopping bags. I just finished it so I'll photograph and post it later (maybe even today).
Today is a lazy day. I am still in my jammies and have been sitting at my craft table. It's such a mess I can hardly work but I'm not going to clean it. I am going to make more stuff (and more of a mess). You should go create something too!!!!
I love this Snow Swirled set. This is one of the cards that we have been making at my recent parties. It has been a hit although it does have a bunch of steps. I used Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss - love, love, love - who am I kidding... I love ALL the In Colors.
Confetti White was a great choice because it isn't so pristine and it distressed easily. Every layer has been distressed with sponging Chocolate Chip and roughing up the edges. I use a scissor edge but that is getting old so I need to order one of those cool little distressing tools. We used the Crop-a-dile for the silver eyelets and added a rhinestone brad to the top. Linen thread is used to hang the tag onto the Old Olive ribbon at the top.
Another variation for this card would be to use the cracked glass technique on the tree. I think that would look cool too.
I'll have another post shortly. I have two cards that are sketch challenges from a week or two ago.
