I'm still here - but with a COMBO! Jingle Belles #JB2409 & JB2410

 Yes, I'm still here but by the skin of my teeth.  Real life gets in my way a lot and takes me away from making cards. This time included a non-vacation type trip away but now I'm back and making up for it. It's a Jingle Belles two-fer kids!

 Since I didn't get to make a card featuring Santa for JB2409, I decided to combine it with the current cardstock only challenge JB2410. So fun I made two cards which I like to think absolves me of my tardiness. (yes, I'm joking).

For the Santa HoHoHo card I stamped the Heidi Swapp Santa from the Christmas Fun set in a pattern to create my own patterned paper. The hohoho were cut using my ancient Quckutz Studio alpha dies - classic typefaces don't go outta style right? Makes a very C&S card

Next card, I created my background using another Heidi Swapp set called Merry Little Christmas - I just love that candy cane stamp and it was very easy to create a pattern with it. I think one could create endless combinations with that stamp alone. I also stamped a tiny tag with another candy cane stamp from the aforementioned Christmas Fun set. The tag die is from Sizzix. The red banner die and the alpha dies are from Papertrey Ink. Finally, the gingerbread boy die is  Sizzix and I used a Posca pen to draw in a face 

I did have a lot of fun with this challenge and I am very glad I was able to make up for last time. I hated missing out on the last challenge. Thanks for stopping by and looking. 

Jingle Belles JB#2407 Cookie Inspired Christmas

 I am back for more Jingle Belles fun - just by the skin of my teeth. 

Considering the inspiration were some absolutely gorgeous cookies and that my middle name during the holidays is Cookie, I was suprised how long it took for me to come up with my card. Sure there were some life distractions. But in the end, I made cookies. (something I frequently do in real life!)

I used dies to cut out shapes that became the icing for my cookies which I cut out of kraft cardstock. I browned the edges with some chalk.  I painted the cookie icing die cut shapes with watercolors. Used some enamel dots for berries or tree lights. Finally I took some silver metallic cardstock to create a cookie cooling rack.

Thanks for stopping by - happy card making!

Jingle Belles Holiday Cards to Die (Cut) for # JB2405 Take 2

 I'm sure in the future there will be times I don't make a second card - making one card for that particular weeks challenge will be more than sufficient. But not THIS week LOL. I'd be making more if lif e didn't get in the way! But - as you all know - I digress.

I perused my collection of dies that fall into the Christmas category and there are a bunch. I decided upon an old Papertrey Ink Snow Globe die with accompanying stamps. I created a shaker card using clear sequins but I wished I'd added more before sealing it closed. A number of the sequins seem to have gotten stuck in the layers that create the scene inside the snow globe. Not much to be done now, but I did decide it could use a bit more sparkle. I sifted through my supplies and got a bit of a crazy notion. I took a clear white sparkly pipe cleaner and glued it around the opening creating something of a sparkly frame. It looks every so slightly wonky in the photos but it's pretty darned cute in real life so I'm good with it. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

Jingle Belles Holiday Cards to Die (Cut) for # JB2405

 Dies and die cuts - I got 'em. It was more which one to choose. I imagine I may make a few cards for this challenge but I started with an old die and stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  Phrase Play #9. I wanted to try some metallic watercolors I have - I was thinking of sparkling shimmery  snowflakes. I also used an embossing folder that hadn't seen much love in a long time. 

The first photo hopefully gives you an idea of the shimmer of that metallic blue. It's prettier in real life. Anyway that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and looking. 

Jingle Belles Text me challenge

 It's almost the end of February and I'm still plugging away. Whodathunkit?

I looked through my stash and found a number of papers with text. This one is pretty old from a company called Creative Imaginations. I decided to glitter up some die cut snowflakes and added them to the card. What you can't see is a strip of glittered up cardstock at the bottom of the card. Oh well - if I have a chance I'll take another pic.  Right now I have to run!

Jingle Belles #JB2403 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

 I saw the prompt for this week and immediately had a flashback to the first time I saw Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on television. Coincidentally it was the first time it aired. Go ahead look it up - yes that was quite a while ago - and it was just magical. Sort of like the poem our Dad would read on Christmas Eve - A Visit from St. Nicholas. I think a lot of parents read that to their kids on Christmas Eve. 

So I started sifting through my stash for RED -
patterned paper for starters. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? Some great RED papers - especially the one you see I used as the background of my card. Beautiful vintage images in RED and cream by a now defunct company called Daisy D's. Also additional plain red paper at the top and bottom. 

I stamped out the small words with Fired Brick Distress Ink - onto some scraps of the paper and cut them out. The chipboard piece is another ancient item from my stash - from K&Company. 

And that's that for now. I've got some other RED ideas I'd like to try out. Thanks for looking. 

Jingle Belles #2402 Something Old/New Take 2!

 As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't have a lot of new stuff. I did buy some stamps and dies a few months ago but no time to use them. I imagine I'm not alone in having lofty goals of making some things and then all the plans go out the window due to whatever is going on. So with that in mind - I'm using something old and something older still. I don't think anyone is gonna call the Jingle Belles Police on me - whaddya say Lauren and Stef? ha!  

So last year I picked up some Heidi Swapp patterned paper called Hometown Holiday.  In this card I used some of that paper: I cut the word JOLLY out of one piece and used yet another piece for the background. For my something older things - the Sizzix die for the Christmas tree (which I cut up and put back together - cos ya know why leave it be when you can redo it?) The shimmery cardstock is also from the ancient section of my stash along with that star brad. The little Christmas mice? They're an older set from Papertrey Ink - and the stamped words are from a coordinating stamp set. And of course, stitching. 

I am pleased with this one - the little mice are so stinkin cute I'm glad I got a chance to use them. I suspect they may turn up in another card someday soon.

Drawing with color

Hello friends! Hope your summer has been wonderful. It's almost September! How did that happen?
I'm here today to share some cards made for a challenge. My favorite artist is Henri Matisse. I have had the good fortune to see two exhibitions of his work in my lifetime. Once at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and more recently at the Tate Gallery in London. The show in NYC was a retrospective of his entire body of work and in London the show was just focusing on his famous cutouts. And that is what led me to creating this challenge.
Matisse said

“The paper cutouts allow me to draw with color. For me, it is a simplification. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color-with one modifying the other-I draw directly in color...It is not a starting point, it is a completion.”

I asked some crafty friends to join me - in drawing with color - using shapes and color. 

Being cardmakers we use a lot of punches 

and dies to make shapes all the time, right?

I decided to use some dies and a punch to create the cards you see here.

The first card - I took some watercolor paper and a reinker and smooshed the color all over. I used my punch as I like to think Matisse used his scissors to cut out the colors and shapes I wanted. I arranged them in a square and used a starfish die and sentiment to complete my card. In this closeup you can see the colors and shapes in each shape that I punched out

 In this card I used a leaf die from PTI- very Matisse like shape don't you agree? I like to think this card has some of the movement of the shapes I see in many of Matisse' cutout pieces.

In this last card again I used a leaf die (as well as an impression plate for the background). I used more of that inked watercolor paper but also foiled one of the leaves with my Minc.





















Okay that's all for today. I hope, if nothing else, you'll go online and look at Matisse's cutouts. Google it - you'll see so many beautiful pieces of his. The shapes are beautiful.
I hope to be back to blogging on a more regular basis. In the meantime however you can find me daily on Instagram

Challenges: 365 Doodle and Popup Challenge

Hi there kids! Yes I've been a bad blogger. I'd like to blame it on summertime - yes let's blame it on that! The schedule is off you know? I would like to invite you to follow me on Instagram as it's quite easy for me to post things there on a daily basis - and really its a whole lotta fun. I've been participating in a 365 Doodle Challenge run by a wonderfully talented illustrator, Johanna Fritz. Not only is she amazingly talented,  she's also such a friendly and supportive soul.  As a matter of fact, I'm finding the Instagram community a very positive and supportive group. If you like to draw or doodle the 365 Doodle Challenge might be for you - check it out!

Another Challenge that is coming up this weekend is The Daily Marker's Pop Up Challenge. It's going to be a lot of fun - and there is a giveaway right now on her blog. Over the weekend she'll have videos and prizes so it would be a great time to get out your stamps and markers and play along!
The Daily Marker - Kathy - also runs the 30 Day Coloring Challenge I participated in twice over the last few months. She's got another one coming up in October. If you like to color - this is definitely a challenge you don't want to miss.
Okay, I need to get going - errands to run, doodles to doodle. Thanks for stopping by!

Challenge Get Well card

Hi friends... yes... another post this week! Crazy I know... but lets go with it!
I was watching a Sandy Allnock video and her accompanying post linked to another blog called Understand Blue. On that blog there was a giveaway for some Inktense Pencils. Well I don't always jump on these giveaways (I'm like... I'll never win) but this one had an interesting requirement for the giveaway - to send a get well card to the Costco greeter at the blog writers (Lydia) local store. I thought I love that idea! I may not win any pencils (probably not) but I can do my good deed for the day. (I like to score some points with the big Guy each day. It can't hurt.)
I am in a bit of time crunch - just tons of things to do today - so I kept it simple. I found this bandaid stamp (i think its Stampendous or Judikins but don't hold me to it) in my stash and added some Purple Onion Designs alphabet stamps; colored with Copics. And if you're a long time follower you may recognize this card is a lot like a card I did waaaaaay back in 2008. Heck it was so long ago it took me a while to find it - I'd posted it on Splitcoaststampers. I must say I don't know what I was thinking when I made that one - I like this one better. I hope it makes Alex smile.
You should join in too -  you might win some pencils and make a guy happy all at the same time!
Okay that's all for me today. Gotta go mail that card and run a few errands. Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink April Blog Hop

Hello Friends! It's Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop day. The challenge was to create something using Navy and Pink. When I saw that I knew I'd have to play along. I love this color combo. It's just so classic. The other day I started playing around with some ideas but I knew I'd be doing something with either polka dots or stripes. And that I'd be making something that was kinda go-big-or-go-home. I made three cards. The first one here using Polka Dot Basics stamped with Fresh Snow Ink then embossed with white embossing powder (just to get those polka really white!) I used the Enclosed: Flower die and Berry Sorbet Cardstock. Then I backed it with white cardstock run through my Big Shot with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder. I also made a butterfly using Beautiful Butterflies and the Beautiful Butterflies Layers set, positioning the die cut so that curly part of the wing took the spot right over the dot
for the "i".


My second card: I used my Misti with the Background Basics: Super Stripes to create that striped background. (Creating backgrounds with the Misti was a big selling point for that tool for me - it made creating this background so easy!) I used the Graceful Greetings set (stamped twice, again using the Misti, to get a really solidly stamped sentiment in Enchanted Evening ink.) as well as the Ruby Rose set to create that embellished flower. I added a PTI button and some embroidery floss to finish it off. Oh yes... and a little machine sewing around the striped panel.

My third card is pretty much like the first one I just reversed the color scheme of Berry Sorbet and Enchanated Evening and using the same stamp sets and dies and embossing folder.

That's all for me for today - I'm off to do some errands then come back and check out everyone's cards on the hop! Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

PTI Make it Monday Challenge #209

Hi there friends. Yes, a second post this week - wow! Right?
More on what I'm up to later in this post but you're here for the challenge card, right?
Okay so this week's Make it Monday challenge on the Papertrey Ink blog was to use white on white die cuts with a pop of color. I haven't been participating of late and this looked like a fun one to jump back in so here's what I came up with.
I loved all the beautiful samples that were in the video. I gave it a little thought a rifled through my Papertrey stamps and dies and decided on using the Button Stacks and Wet Paint dies. I tried out the Bitty Button Stacks too but finally opted to leave those out. I had all my diecuts and decided my splash of color would be in the sentiment and then realized I wanted to use a little embroidery thread to tie up those buttons. I did try white but it wasn't workin for me so I went with a blushy pink thread. I spent a lot of time trying various ways of lining up those buttons. I liked this version the best - it reminds me of a quilt or maybe lace?  I should confess I really wanted something that said Baby for the sentiment - doesn't it kinda look like a baby blanket? :-) I might make it again if I can come up with a good alternative to make a baby card.
I don't know about you - if you participated - but this was a tough card to photograph!
So now onto the why I'm not blogging so much of late.
I'm a purging stuff. Great amounts of stuff. And while it's taking me away from things like blogging, it sure feels good. I'm making great progress so I don't wanna stop. Well I do have to stop occasionally. The house needs tending and the family needs feeding and we need clean laundry blah blah blah.  I even got together with some dear friends and we had a little sale of our stuff a couple of weekends ago. While I didn't sell a ton, I did sell some and then the rest I donated to a local shop and that was really great. (It didn't come back in my house and went to a most worthy cause - win/win).

All this purging - and I should be specific - it's craft room purging I'm talking about - is very freeing. I have been bogged down way too long with a lot of stuff I'm never going to use. Lots of guilt there. Guilt that I shouldn't get rid of stuff I spent good money on, guilt that I am getting rid of something someone gave me. Oh the guilt. I could write a book. And I finally said to myself - it's wearing you down. The room is a mess. I spend too much time organizing it and reorganizing it - time I could better spend drawing and making cards and scrapbooking. And I am almost done. And it feels wonderful. And it's clean... well almost. But heck the floor is clear! And that my friends is kinda amazing. So thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your visits and your comments. And if you're not commenting - please do - I love hearing what you have to say - what you're making etc. Okay?

Doodlie-do Thinking of You

Good Morning Friends!

Since I've been participating in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge, I've been pulling out stamps that I haven't used in a while.

Doodlie-do is one of those stamp sets. I made two cards using the stamps. One card colored in browns and teals and the other card colored in pinkish tones - not unlike Papertrey Ink's color Berry Sorbet.

I used a die from the Keep it Simple Frames and added a sentiment from Keep it Simple: Thinking of you.

That's all for today.
Thanks for stopping by!

It's Spring! (or at least it feels like it)

Hello Friends! Can you tell I'm loving the warmer temps? It definitely feels like Spring and, after a particularly cold winter, temps in the 50's are amazing! When it's warmer out I like to open the doors and windows and let the fresh air in. As some of you may know I have two crazy kitties. They are indoor cats. But when the weather is like this I open up the doors to our deck and our kitties can also enjoy the wonderful weather. (Part of the deck area is enclosed so no worries.) The other day I did exactly this and Willie (our girl cat) went zipping in and out of those doors - clearly she was happy about the warm weather too. I'm coloring away at the 30 day challenge by Kathy at the Daily Marker (which has been so wonderfully motivating!). I decided I'd use a stamp from Simon Says Stamp - Pawesome. Such an adorable kitty - totally reminded me of little Miss Willie zipping all over our house. I stamped the image three times across the top of the card. I also wanted to use some alphabet stamps from Papertrey Ink - Outlines. These alphas have been on my wishlist forever - and now that they're retiring at the end of this month - headed to Papertrey's Vault - I finally took the plunge. I stamped out the words and began coloring them and the cats in Copics. It was so much fun to settle in and color. Not only fun - it's thoroughly therapeutic. You get in that wonderful zone and completely forget about everything else.
Okay - that's all from me today - thank you so much for stopping by!

Welcome Spring

Good morning friends. I am still coloring away on the 30 day challenge on Instagram. I decided to color this bunch of flowers - it's an older stamp from Hero Arts - one of my favorites. When I've colored it before I've colored the image as is - its an outline stamp and those flower centers end up being black. So this time I decided I wanted to color them in and make the flowers into daisies. Kinda springy - light and bright. I colored everything with Copics. Then I got to those black centers - I decided to use a white gelly roll pen to cover over the black. Then I went back in and colored them with a yellow Copic. It worked out pretty well. I finished it off with a little banner and sentiment (both from Papertrey Ink).
Thanks for stopping by!

30 Day Coloring Challenge

Have you been following the challenge from Kathy at The Daily Marker? I saw her posting on Instagram and decided it was the perfect challenge for me. I love to color and thought it would give me something to work on every day. I've been posting every day on Instagram and it's been a lot of fun to see what everyone has been coloring. If you haven't gotten in on it - why not join today?
I've been coloring up a storm!
I made this card for my 96 year old Aunt - she is pretty amazing. And unfortunately had to have some surgery last week so I sent this get well card. The image is from Lockhart Stamp Company and the sentiment and patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink. I used some Copics and Prismacolor pencils to color the image and did some stitching (a little crooked LOL) to finish off the card.
Thanks for stopping by and check out that challenge!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Challenge

Hi Friends! It's been a couple of days but I was determined I was going to post today for PTI's blog hop challenge. The inspiration photo was so beautiful and I've been mulling what I'd do over in my mind for a while. I know we're only allowed to enter the challenge with one card but I've made two so I'm posting them both.
 I knew I wanted to play around with a watercolor look and one of my PTI cover plates. I finally decided on the hexagon cover plate. I tried my hand at "smooshing" with a range of PTI reinkers on watercolor paper (PTI colors: Aqua Mist, Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, Harvest Gold, Fine Linen; Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Antique Linen and Faded Jeans). It was a lot of fun and when I was done I had lots of watercolor-like sheets of paper - it looked like Easter all over my drawing table.
Then I ran each one through my Big Shot (the watercolor paper is nice and thick and while the pieces were all cut none of them moved til I pushed them out with my fingers which was very handy!) Then I started arranging them in what i thought was a pleasing mix. You'll note I didn't use the framework from the coverplate die - I just pieced it all together. I know it sounds crazy but it wasn't a lot of work. And the sans-framework was the look I was going for.  I finished off the blue/green card by cutting around the finished piece and mounting it on an Aqua Mist base. (The color isn't showing up as beautiful as it is in real life - I just couldn't get a better photo this morning.) I added the piece of vellum that I stamped in Versamark and embossed with white Filigree Embossing powder (Sentiment from Think Big Favorites #22). I used some pinking shears to cut off the ends of the vellum.
For the pink/green card, I trimmed the watercolor base and mounted it on Sweet Blush cardstock. The sentiment, stamped in Smokey Shadow, is from Bundle of Love.
I'm so happy I got to play this blog hop. It's been a while! Now I'm off to get some chores done so I can look at everyone else's entries this afternoon! Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey 8th Anniversary Challenge

Hi friends. I've been gone for a short bit I know. The husband and I took a little trip up to NYC last weekend and since then I've been playing catchup (ketchup? yea that too). I have also been doing a bit of scrapbooking. Perhaps I'll share that soon.
Anyway it's that time of year again - Papertrey Ink's Anniversary celebration and that always includes tons of challenges which are always great fun, don't you agree?
As I said I've been scrapbooking and playing with all manner of supplies and techniques I hadn't done in years. Which brings me to my entry into the first challenge over at the PTI blog. (You were wondering when I'd get to that huh?) The challenge is to use inspiration cards (sketches and color schemes) to come up with a card.  My card is loosely based on this sketch. My colors are loosely based on two of the color schemes. I think the inspiration cards are just that right? Used for inspiration. okay....

I decided on using the Friendship Jar Spring Fillers stamp set - I wanted to use those conversation hearts. But first I wanted to create a bit of a background - using the Background Basics: Hearts. I created a mask  & a template using the PTI jar die. I adhered the mask then stamped in the BB: Hearts with Versamark. I peeled up my mask then used the template to mark off where the jar would go. Then inside that area I stamped the conversation hearts. I colored those with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. Then went back in and stamped the words. Then I took a Copic Marker (Dull Ivory E43) and colored in my jar. I went back over that with a line drawing (since I don't have the Jar Stamp) using probably my new favorite pen - a Pilot G-TEC-C4.
Then I went back to those background hearts and used some chalk to color those in (the chalk sticks to the Versamark - an old technique but a fun one!)
Finally I cut a tag using the Tiny Tags die and stamped it with one of those little conversation stamps. Then I poked some holes into my card to tie the tag on with some Rustic Cream twine.
I gotta say I had such a good time with this. I hadn't been drawing in way too long and as much as I love my Copics I adore my Prismacolor pencils.
Okay I'll shut up now. I need to start looking for some inspiration for the challenge posted today. Hope you're having a good one.

It didn't work for the challenge but I like it anyway

Hi friends. Did you ever see a challenge on a "challenge" blog and decide you're going to give that a go and realize... no, that's not gonna work. Well, maybe you haven't. Maybe you kept trying and you made something you liked and yay for you! :-)  This time I don't think it worked out for me for the challenge but I like that I still made something.
The challenge I saw was for paper piecing which I happen to enjoy so I thought great - I'll try that. Then I realized the stamps I had really don't lend themselves to paper piecing (you needed to use a particular company's stamps) - they're not line stamps - more flat image. I thought about it some more and said I'm making something with the stamps I have anyway - they haven't seen ink in a while. So I set off making this card. I went to my patterned paper scrap box and chose that plaid piece. Then I found another piece of patterned paper with polka dots and stamped my image on it with a similar but darker color pink. I liked how that came out and clear embossed it. I like that you can still see the polka dots right through the stamping. I found yet another piece of patterned paper - this time the green paper I cut the leaves from - it had a very subtle pattern and texture too. I stamped the leaf image from the set on the paper with a similar but darker ink - it picked up the texture which I really liked. I finished the card using one of the sentiments in the set and I had a card. Not the card that I set out to make but it worked out fine in the end.
Hope you're having a good day - it was lightly snowing earlier here but has stopped. I think we're dodging the "blizzard" bullet here in northern Virginia. Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday: #178 Easel Card

Today I decided to give this week's Make it Monday challenge a try. I loved that easel idea and it's good to try something different - get those creative juices flowing right? I cut my easel using a few of the Fabulous Frames dies (cut out the "legs" with the largest frame die and then added one of the detail dies). Then I used the Woodgrain Impression dies to give my easel a little more authenticity :-) I also cut a few strips to use at the bottom of the easel to create the ledge. I sponged on some Kraft ink onto the Kraft cardstock to bring out the woodgrain. Now onto the image area. I decided since my kids aren't in school anymore, I'd make a card for a friend who has been ill. I wanted the easel to hold a little work of art (the whole easel thing was making me flashback to one of my studio classes in college anyway). I used some watercolor paper and stamped the image and sentiment from the Autumn Abundance stamp set. I love that set. Such beautiful images. Then I set about watercoloring it using inks from PTI: Scarlet Jewel, Harvest Gold, Fine Linen and Kraft. The green is Old Olive from StampinUp. Anyway I really like how it came out - love those Make it Mondays!

I wish the second photo could've been better but wanted to include it anyway so you can see how this little card looks standing up. So cute.