Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Christmas is coming....

Christmas is coming and it's a season filled with hope and joy! I've loved pulling out the decorations and hearing the happy music of Jesus' birth. And making my cards for Christmas. I'll let you have a peek! 

The first card is one I mass produced before Thanksgiving so I could get them out early enough to include our new address. 

This card was shamelessly CASEd from the from the SU Holiday catalog. I typically don't enjoy mass producing cards, but I worked on it piece by piece. Literally! Little bit by little bit. Here's the view of the bistro table in my kitchen. 

The second card is one that I will send to a special few on my list. It is one of my favorite of the Christmas cards I've made over the last ten years of stamping/blogging.

I die cut white card stock in a partial circle for the background and embossed the stars in white. Then I sponged inks to create a night sky, being careful to keep the central area lighter. The manger was die cut, stamped and colored with Copics. I didn't blend too much on purpose to keep the look of rough hewn wood that the image suggests.

Lastly, I added layers of paper banners and sparkled the sky and inside the manger with clear Wink Of Stella pen. Is "sparkled" even a word? Well it is on my blog for today -- hope I've sparkled your day with a bit of laughter. I so appreciate your support in coming to visit my blog and so often leaving your lovely comments. Thank you!

 Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stocking card

Stamps: Hang Your Stocking and Dies

Paper: Real Red, Mint Macaroon, Whisper White, Presents and Pinecones DSP 

 Manger Card

Stamps: Weary World from Verve and dies, and stars from Falling Backgrounds from SSS; banner strips were stamped with Sheet Music Background from My Favorite Things 

Paper: Whisper White, gold glimmer paper

Ink: Versamark, Simon Says Stamp Intens Black, Ranger Distress inks: Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire

Accessories: Copic markers, Wink of Stella Clear pen, MFT Die-Namics Stitched Arches Stax, White embossing powder

 

Related articles

the Weary World Rejoices

The Stamp Review Crew: Mixed Bunch Edition

In Color Thanks for Fab Friday

Scripture for Encouragement

Hello everyone! Are you glad it's Friday?

I sure am, we've had a crazy week. I especially happy that it's a Fab Friday and we have a fun challenge for you!

Our color challenge brings to mind spooky Halloween images for me. I am one of those who don't really celebrate the holiday, so I came up with a different idea.  I had the notion for the layout and using images from the PTI Twig Wreath set, then I went looking for a sentiment. I decided to go with these wonderful words of encouragement from Scripture for a fall themed card. 

 I enjoyed stamping the images around the sentiment in the colors suggested by the challenge. 

Can you believe we're on Challenge #98?  I sure hope you'll join us and make a card to share in our gallery. You'll find the Fab Friday Challenge HERE.   

I know you'll love checking out the blogs of our fabulous design team as well. 

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Amy Koenders
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Janine Tinklenberg
Wendy Weixler

Thanks so much for visiting, have a great weekend! 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Verve - Scripture Medley 2

Ink: SU - Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, SSS - Intense Black

Accessories: SU - plum button and Linen thread, Die is from Darice.

 

Related articles

You Have My Heart

Vivid Vases and Mixed Media

Happy Valentine's Day

Creating with Holiday Home

Merry Everything for Fab Friday

Back in the craft room!

 

 

 

 

 

One Cup for TEA

I'm writing this in the early morning and I'm ready for my morning brew - tea! The blacker the better for waking me up! There were so many perky cards featuring coffee on the web last week, that I just had to add a card featuring my fave. 

 I had fun assembling layered dies for the focal point and using Copics to color. The whimsical One Cup stamp set from Verve has the cutest sentiments and matching dies. I added a bit of a watermark distressing to my sentiment panel. Reminding me of a teabag I stapled a bit of twine at the top. 

That's it for me today! We've been busy replacing the items damaged from our recent lightening strike and today looks like a good one to settle in and do some catch up. Thanks so much for coming by. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Verve - One Cup

Paper: DSP is from MFT

INK

Accessories: Verve - One Cup dies; PTI - square dies from the Don't Forget to Write Kit

 

 

Related articles

Faith and Hope for Mojo Monday

July 2015 Card Kit Take 2

Better with CHOCOLATE!

Needing a title. Stumped again. I looked up quotes about chocolate. And here is what I found that I liked best for today's post: There is nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate.

Now that's a bit long for a title, but here's the story that goes with this card. It was made for a friend of mine, and we share lots in common. We can talk or stamp for hours, but the other day we had a blast sharing our love of chocolate together. After eating lunch out we decided on a different take for dessert. At the market where they have bins of quality chocolate in many shapes and varieties we each picked two kinds and just got a little. We divvied them up and savored every morsel. The total cost of this treat?  One dollar and 82 cents. 

 

I've had this Verve set for ages but never had a reason to use it until now. I actually mailed this and I hope my friend liked it! 

Remember THIS card where I was using a sketch that had repeated text?  Well, after I'd made the card it really bugged me because it didn't have an interesting focal point. The first rule of Clean and Simple is you have to have an interesting focal point! The nautical text and images were too undefined to use. I made today's card to try again with that technique and sketch using repeated text and a focal point. I like the result much better this time.

I layered the gold foil Chocolate die cut with Early Espresso layers on each side. The candies and hearts are stamped and I added chocolate brown sequins.

If I haven't gotten your mouth watering yet, I hope that at least I've inspired you! It's so great that you chose to come by my blog today. Whether it's cards or chocolate, friends make it better, and that means --you!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Verve - Chocolate (on sale right now!)

Paper: SU - Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, gold foil

Ink: SU - Early Espresso, Melon Mambo

Accessories: Verve - Chocolate Word Die