On a Clear Day

Today I am wrapping up my participation in Ellen Hutson's great Make 'N Take Challenges - today is clear stamps - in celebration of the 2013 Hero Arts release. I used an old favorite Hero Arts stamp, CL416 to make a thank you card for a dear and talented friend (see her Etsy shop here after she re-stocks) who made me some fun gifts for my kitchen.

These are my kitchen's colors. I used Copics and a silver pen to color these cute images and I popped up some of the elements for added fun. The greeting is Hero Arts CG277 with Red Royal Shadow Ink, which I love (it will be great for Valentines, too).

Thanks, Ellen - this has been lots of fun and a great way to end the year celebrating the new Hero Arts stamps (which I have yet to get my hands on). You have one more day to join in this great fun.

Only a few more thank you cards to make and I can shift to Valentines, one of my very favorite types of cards to make. Have a toasty day and thanks for checking in.

Have a safe and happy new year's eve!

Stamps and Stamps!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

There is a wonderful lady where I volunteer who always thinks of me when she sees something that might be used in a crafty way. One day she had a bag of canceled postage stamps. I've always had a fascination for postage stamps. Not just the graphics, but that they have traveled so many places.

I made a set of cards as a little thank you gift. I used one of the cling stamps from Hero Arts' "Just Because" set (AC012) and the coordinating die, "Edge Frame" (D1005). I stamped it onto water color paper and used watercolor pencils to color it. After adhering the postage stamps to the background, I embossed it with my Cuttlebug "Decroative Tile" folder (it looks like lattice).

For cards that I am giving as gifts, I like to keep them flat so that there are no issues with padding or extra postage. The watercolor paper adds sufficient dimension and I added a small paper flower and Stickles to each card.

I am entering this in Ellen Hutson's cling stamp Take 'N Make Challenge to celebrate the 2013 Hero Arts Release. You have until January 1st to join in for wood, cling, or clear stamping projects.

Thanks for stopping in and have a glorious Sunday!

Another SPARKS Challenge!

I had a chance to take on the current Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect Challenge.

When I saw this inspiration photo I have to say that I groaned. To tell the truth, I have had my fill of cute white snowmen on light blue paper, which is the first image that came to my mind.

But I resisted my initial reaction and returned to my "roots" - the ocean! I made this fishy-themed card with a real porthole window (complete with acetate) for one of my swimmingly special friends.

Santa brought this new "Geometric Rings" Cuttlebug folder.The Paper Smooches stamp sets are "Surf and Turf" and "Pretty Phrases".

Since I buy most of my Paper Smooches from Simon Says Stamp, I'm submitting this to the current SSS "Anything Goes" Challenge".

I hope that you celebrate today and have a great weekend. Thanks for peeking in.

Make and Take

Today I have made a Hero Arts "Make and Take" sponsored by Ellen Hutson LLC, who sells all kinds of great card-making goodies. The challenge is in celebration of the new 2013 Hero Arts stamps (some of which I have ordered - Yay!) and the requirement is to use a Hero Arts stamp. There are challenges for wood, cling and clear stamps - check it out, you have until January 1st to join in.

As you may remember, I recently bought the coolest vintage typewriter. It is all fixed up and working beautifully. I had forgotten how much finger force is required for typing! Anyway, Hero Arts has this great stamp called "Retro Typewriter" (F5498) that I used and colored up to match mine. Since a requirement is to photograph your card with the stamp, I decided to photograph it with my inspiration, too. 

I've included a pic with only the card, as the light on the first picture wasn't too good.
We are having lots of grey and rainy days here in California!

Can you see that I made my own patterned background paper by typing many different "thank you" phrases with my typewriter and photocopying it onto cardstock. I love it!

I also used Hero Arts LP114 for the sentiment, Nestibilities Lables Two and Back to Basics Tags, twine from my stash, Copic pens, and Lawn Fawn paper.

Hope you have a great day. I am off to the after-Christmas sales. I am NOT a shopper, but I get a kick out of this tradition of mine.

Thanks for looking in!

Merry Christmas!

One last post before I wrap up the year. This is a card I made with a dear Penny Black stamp called "Winter Swing". What fun to color! I am not real big on stamps of cute kids, but there is something extra dear about this sweetie.

The ornament is a JustRite stamp, embossed in gold, cut with a matching Spellbinders die. I also used some of my new Studio Calico wood stars - I'm crazy over them!

Thank you all for your wonderful visits, your sweet encouragement, your smiles and all of your amazing inspiration throughout the year. I am so touched to have so many real friends right here! There is always someone ready to offer just what I need. It has been amazing year. I hope to see you all next year and maybe even meet some of you in person.

I am entering this is in the current Simon Says Stamp (I just received an order in today's mail = excited! Simon Says Santa!) challenge, Merry Christmas. You still have time (if you have time) to play along.

Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year! I'll see you in 2013!

Button, button!

Well, as happy as I would have been to do my civic duty, I lucked out and ended up not being required to serve on a jury. Yay! Now I have a few more hours to sit under our adorable Christmas tree with Gary. We are planning a quiet Christmas.

One day I mentioned the button trees that I have had fun making with some of my vintage buttons (I have far too many). And you asked, so here is a peek.

The white one is my favorite because the vintage buttons have such a creamy look. I've left the remains of threads that are still in some of the old buttons.

I hope to make a few more. I've been buying more tree forms with my Michael's coupons. I recently saw a great one made with old jewelery pieces at an upscale gift shop ($225) which I may CASE.

I hope to make one more post before Christmas, but I sure do appreciate your visits! To all of you dealing with nasty weather - stay safe and hopefully you can still gather your flock for your celebrations.

Santa Fun

Things are spinning, but I am happy to be back home and enjoying some quiet time in our home, which is all decorated for Christmas. Love it!

The other day my dear friend invited several of us crafting friends to lunch. I made these little Santa gift boxes to take along. I had seen something like these and decided to re-create them with dies and pom-poms. Very time-consuming! And, no - it is not candy in their tummies. I filled them with Valentine's embellishments for future cardmaking.

This morning I am off to a Zumba class (this is new for me & I am loving it) and I am scheduled to serve on jury duty, of all things!

I almost forgot to tell you that I am entering this in the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge, Merry Christmas. Check it out and play along!

Wishing you a wonderful day. Take time to enjoy it.

Thanks for the visit,

Christmas Treats

We are heading out of town for a few days for some holiday visits and fun. Saturday will be our big family (hubby's side) Christmas gathering. I always like to make a little something for everyone - young and old alike. Gary helped to fill these little cellophane sleeves with candy (he said he had to eat all of the "chipped" ones!) and I cut, stamped, colored, assembled and embellished the toppers.

It is so perfect that the Simon Says Stamp Challenge is "What's Your Favorite?", because I used stamps from both of my favorite companies for this festive project.

If you know me, you know my favorites are Hero Arts and Paper Smooches. They are both great, yet very different types of stamp companies.

I added googly eyes and Stickles, two huge favorites of mine!

I made a total of 20 treats. Here are some of the ones I made with Hero Arts (Pinecone B5259, Robot CL247, Penguin CM005).

And here are some of the Paper Smooches treats. I used  "Space Cadet", "My Peeps" and "Little Fella." Our family has a great sense of humor, so these are perfect.














Thanks for checking us out - have a wonderful holiday weekend and I'll see you next week.

Jingle Bell Monster

Our little (and very cool) grand-nephew loves all things monster. So, I decided to make a gift tag for him using the current Paper Smooches SPARKS designer draft challenge and a technique from Ellen's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist. And, because my design features snowflakes, I will make it another entry into Simon Says Stamp's current challenge. All super-amazing!

The current designer challenge at Paper Smooches SPARKS is to use this great sketch:

I used 4 different paper Smooches stamp sets for this baby: Little Fella, My Peeps (for the hat), Dippy Dots (for the background) and Geo-Graphic. Fun!

As for technique, I used Jennifer McGuire's acetate tag technique, using white Staz-on for a background. I raised the acetate from the backing tag to produce some lovely shadows (you can see it better on the close up). I also used her Copic coloring-on-metal technique for the snowflakes, but I added some snowflake embellishments on top of them for extra dimension and contrast.

Hope you have a monster of a day! Thanks for checking us out.

Ellen's 12 Tags

Hope you all had one grand weekend - we sure did! I have been lurking around Ellen Hutson's Classrom. She has been doing her Twelve Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist and what a lovely gift that is. It is as good as any online class that I have paid for! Great talent and wonderful instructions. Thanks, Ellen!

Anyway, I was inspired by everyone, but most of all (so far) by the wonderful and whimsical tag by Claudine Hellmuth. There is so much about this refreshing and fun tag that I love and I incorporated some of it in my series of tags.

I love the painted background with the tiny dimensional dots, the addition of lace (mine is some vintage from my extensive stash), and the cute graphic. I dug into my collection of vintage photos and embellished the folks with wings and hats from Artchix Studio (there are lots of goodies there). The sentiments are from Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler.

As you can see, I really had fun with these. I'm not sure that I can give them up - they've become part of the family! Get on over to Ellen's Classroom and check it all out - you will love it, I promise!

Thanks for the visit and have a delux week!

Click a Cool Chick

Happy weekend! I don't usually post on the weekend, but I was busy yesterday. Lunch and shopping in San Francisco with two of my dearest friends! It is an annual tradition and it was a blast. We were even blessed with glorious weather.

Today I am posting a card I made for two challenges. The first challenge is the current Trend Watch Challenge at Paper Smooches SPARK.  This is the photo inspiration:

I love Paper Smooches stamps! For this card I had fun with Geo-Graphic (for the silver dots on the camera), Christmas Sampler and My Peeps. Yep, I even used a birdie tail feather from that set for that custom hat on the penguin. Fun! The camera is a graphic from the internet.

 











I also made this for the current challenge at Simon Says Stamp. The designers there are spotlighting Glitter Ritz with snowflakes. I have used it with "Be Creative Tape" on mine - it is so brilliant, especially when you burnish it with your fingers. The snowflakes are punched with help from Martha Stewart.

Hope you have a fantastic holiday weekend! Thanks for coming by.

Little Packetsof Joy!

I have been making some packets to hold small gifts, cards and gift tags. So much fun to embellish! I made them in red and green, but I especially like the blue ones. This one features a layered snowflake with the cutest tiny jingle bell. The sentiment is Hero Arts CL543. The tag is attached with a tiny clothespin from my stash.

My amazing friend Barb is hosting a Holiday Challenge over at Flickr for which this is perfect. Thanks, sweet gal!

I am also submitting it to the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is all about snowflakes.

Have a wonderful day - thanks for the visit!

Ho Ho Ho

Obsession Impression Stamp

I was waiting for some sunshine to shoot this card, but it just isn't happening. Copic-colored images are difficult to capture, even under the best conditions. So, just take my word for it - this sparkly guy is pretty cute. I colored him based on a video that was part of the Holiday Card Class that I took online last month.

Things are starting to get busy everywhere! Hope you stay healthy and happy - and, of course, crafting. I have been making some cute trees out of some of my many vintage buttons. I may share a picture here soon.

Thanks for stopping by and have merry day!