MTSC106 and Colour Q 65 Thank You

I was very excited when I first saw the color challenge at the ColourQ blog.  I thought the colors were earthy and very modern at the same time.  I knew instantly that I wanted to play along.  I needed a sketch so I went to  Mercy Kerin's blog to check out her sketch challenge for this week.  I was surprised to see that it was going to be her last one.

I decided to combine the two challenges and since I still needed thank you cards from Christmas that's what I made.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Simple Thank You

Now that the holidays are over, I am in need of thank you cards.  So for the last few days that is what I have been concentrating on making.  Today, I looked at the lovely, simple FTL121 layout and paired it with the Curtain Call color challenge to make a card.

It's no surprise that I have been hoarding my Parisian Breeze specialty designer paper, but I actually thought it would be perfect for this sketch challenge.  Many of the patterns are simple and suited for this type of challenge.

These colors are so pretty and they remind me that spring is just around the corner.  At least that's what I keep telling myself when I look outside and see a foot of snow in my back yard!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Snowed in With MOJO 171

Well, here in Massachusetts (and the entire northeast, really) we got our first big snowstorm.  And it was a doozy!  It was officially called a blizzard and where I live, I got about a foot of snow.  I went outside this morning to try to dig out my car in case I had to go to work, and discovered a thick blanket of very heavy, wet snow.  No fun to shovel.  Luckily, I didn't have to go in to work so after clearing off the driveway I'm spending a lazy day watching movies, taking pictures of the winter scenery and, of course, making cards!  Since it's Monday, I checked out the MOJO sketch for this week.  As usual, the last sketch of the month is a choice between round or square.  I've been making so many round cards lately, that I decided to give myself a break and go back to square.

I grabbed my Woodland Walk designer paper and let those colors be my guide.  I really wanted to use Garden Green because I don't use it very often and I thought it would be nice to see some green, since when I look out my window, all I see is white!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Lab Challenge 22

It's Thursday and time for another challenge from the Color Lab!

These colors are so fabulous!  Don't you agree?  And what a great way to showcase snowflakes!  So, that's just what I did!

Apologies to anyone who is tired of seeing my round cards, but I love them!  And for this snowflake extravaganza, I thought it might be nice to make some nice winter-themed thank you cards to send to family and friends who generously gave me a Christmas gift.  I don't think it shows in the picture, but I used the basic rhinestone bling on two of the snowflakes and on the double snowflake I used the smallest rhinestone brad.  Trust me, it looks all bling-y in real life!

I'm quite sure that the next few days will be entirely too busy for me to check in with a blog post, so let me just say that I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  But once this busy time is over, I hope you'll hop on over to the Color Lab, check out the fabulous colors this week, and create something.  We'd love to see what you do!

SSSC97 and Curtain Call 61

It feels like ages since I posted anything!  I've been very busy that last few days with last minute Christmas preparations and today is the first day I've been able to spend a little time in my stamp room.  Being Sunday and all, I checked out the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and The Curtain Call color challenge and combined the two.

I've got most of my gifts all wrapped, but I needed one last gift bag and I thought this would make a nice decoration on one.  I never knew that I liked poinsettas so much, but I can't seem to stop making them!  I embossed the leaves again with clear embossing powder - I'm not sure that really shows up in the picture, but they look really nice in real life.

I expect this week will be very busy, as the final countdown to Christmas begins.  Hopefully, I'll get to spend a little time being creative!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!  

Color Lab Challenge 21

It's Thursday and time for another challenge from the Color Lab!

These colors are so rich, I love them.  And they reminded me so much of the Christmas Cocoa designer paper from 2009.  So, of course, I dug into my ever-present stash of retired things and found some scraps I could work with!

I actually made a round tag a few days ago using this same layout.  This tag has been sitting on my workstation in my line of sight and I keep looking at it and loving it.  So, I figured that since I loved it so much it was worth re-making.  For some reason, I've been really into round cards lately.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's because they are so different from what we are used to.  This one is destined to become the front of a gift bag, I think.

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to pop on over to the Color Lab, check out the fabulous colors this week, and create something!  We'd love to see what you do!

MTSC104

And Christmas is back! 

Yesterday I was all about Valentine's Day.  Today I am one day closer to the cookie swap and I'm still three gift bags short.  Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge  inspired me to make another tag for my cookie gift bags.

Don't you just love all those layers?  And the big circles just called out to me to use the real red corduroy buttons that have been languishing in my stash forever!  So I did!!

I still had some scraps left over from last years Christmas Cocoa dp, so I used those here.  And I LOVE those corduroy brads.  I'm sorry to see them leave my stash but I bought them to use them, so I remind myself that one of my resolutions this year was to not hoard my stuff anymore!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

MOJO 169

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you.....Valentine's Day!

For ages I've been all about snowmen, snowflakes and all things Christmas.  As much as I love this time of year and love creating things with wonderful Christmas colors, I needed a break.  So I took the opportunity to use the MOJO sketch this week to make a Valentine's Day themed card.  It was a welcome break.  But rest assured, I'm not done with Christmas yet.  I think there's still a snowman, or a holly bunch or ornament in me that is just waiting to bust on out!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Curtain Call 60 and Sweet Sunday 96 Cookie Tag

Today, I had a very set schedule.  I was going to a Christmas open house at my sister's at 1:30 with the intention that I would leave in time to watch the Patriots play at 4:15.  When I got home, I was going to finish decorating my christmas tree as I watched the aforementioned football game, then I was going to mix up cookie batter for the cookie swap I am participating in on Thursday. 

Aside from attending the Christmas open house at my sister's house, none of the other things happened!  I ended up staying at her house to watch the entire game and by the time I got home, I was in no mood to break out the flour to make the cookies.  Luckily I have until Wednesday to make them!

What I did make, however, was a tag for my christmas cookie swap goodie bag based on the Curtain Call color challenge and the Sweet Sunday sketch challenge.

Here's my take on the sketch and the color challenge:

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Dare 88 Tag

It's the final countdown to the cookie swap.  As I suspected, I have come to no conclusion as to how I wanted to decorate my cookie gift bags.  So everyone is going to get a proto-type.  Today my proto-type is based on the color challenge at the Color Dare blog:  Riding Hood Red, Old Olive and a Neutral.

You may recognize the Waltzingmouse 26 sketch challenge also.  I thought it was so adorable I had to make another tag with it!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

It's All White With PPA72

I'm fairly certain I have never done a challenge like this before.  This week the challenge at the Pals Paper Arts blog was all about white.

The design team had made some fabulous cards for inspiration and they definitely inspired me to give it a try.

I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but I reached for my French Foliage stamp set for this one!  That little leaf is so awesome!  I stamped it on white with Versamark and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.   I think it shows up fairly well in the picture.  I added the oh-so-awesome basic pearls in the center.

I didn't make this as a traditional card - it's just a 4 1/4-inch square - because I had other plans for it.  I think I'm going to adhere this to a white gift bag as an accent piece.  I just haven't decided whether I'm going to purchase a gift bag or make one myself.  Or, now that I've given it a good look-see, it might look even more dramatic adhered to a colored gift bag - like maybe a deep, cherry cobbler red!  Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Lab Challenge 20

And.........we're back!  It's Thursday and after a slight hiatus, the Color Lab challenge is back in full swing!  This week we've got some fabulous holiday inspired colors.

Don't you just love this pillow?  After much contemplation I finally decided to do something a little fun for my card and went with my Snow Buddies stamp set.  I always loved these little snowmen with their interchangeable hats!  I also used the MOJO Monday sketch challenge for my layout.

I think eventually I will give this card to my friend who moved from Massachusetts to Florida a few years ago.  She doesn't get much occasion to see snowmen anymore, so I like to send her a reminder of what she's missing every so often!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to pop on over to the Color Lab, check out the fabulous colors this week, and create something.  We'd love to see what you do!

Color Throwdown 122 Cookie Swap Bag

This is prototype number 836488387 for my cookie swap bag.  Just kidding.  It's really number 4.  Or maybe 5.  I've lost count.  Anyway, today I used the colors at the Color Throwdown challenge blog to make this cookie bag.

These are nice Christmas colors, and as a bonus because my bag is a plain brown lunch bag, I managed to include both the chocolate chip and kraft colors for my project.

I'm not at all sure that the recipient of my cookies will find any joy in the bag, but I'm hopeful!  I'll certainly have fun filling the bag and eating disposing of any cookies that I think are defective!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Dare 87 Tag

I'm still experimenting with ideas for my cookie swap at work next week.  I think by the time I'm done, I will have settled on nothing and everyone will get one of my test samples.  I'm actually ok with that and I hope the recipients will be too!

So today I made a tag using the colors over at the Color Dare blog.  The challenge was to use Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum, and Concord Crush.  The colors are fabulous and the cards made by the design team were very inspiring and I had high hopes that I could make something really nice.

My plan is to stick this on the front of a lunch bag and probably pretty up the lunch bag with some ribbon or such.  I've been experimenting with the bag and I've got some cute ideas there too!  I don't think you can tell by the picture, but I tried to jazz up the snowflakes by covering them in dazzling diamonds, but all that sparkly goodness doesn't show up on the photo.  I've got to say this is my least favorite of my lunch bag embellishments so far, but I really like the color combo, so I'm sticking with it!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

SSSC59 and Curtain Call 59 Tag

Next week is cookie swap week at work, so I spent some time today trying to figure out how I was going to package my cookies.  I've got a few ideas but one of them is based on the sketch challenge at the Sweetest Thing blog and the Curtain Call color challenge.

I think I've decided to use lunch bags that I've decorated for my swap.  I love the simple look of the craft paper and they are easy to decorate.  Here's one of my ideas.

I used the old Yummy stamp from a long time ago.  It was made especially for the top note die, but I adapted it here to go with one of my nesties.  I haven't used it very much, so it was nice to take it out and dust it off!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

WMSC26 Christmas Tag

I found another cute sketch that was just perfect for a Christmas tag!  This one was over at the Waltzingmouse sketch challeng blog.

And it's a round one, which I think makes the nicest tags.  This one said "snowflakes" to me, so that's what I did.

I cut out one snowflake in Cherry Cobbler and covered it in Dazzling Diamonds.  Then I cut a smaller one out of Crumb Cake and sprayed it with gold Smooch Spritz.  I put a rhinestone brad in the middle, and presto!  A very sparkly Christmas tag.  (Once again the picture does not do the sparkliness justice)!

Tomorrow, I plan to start putting out my Christmas decorations around the house and decorating my tree.  There's no snow on the ground, but I feel like I'm in the Christmas spirit anyway!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

PPA71 and FTL119 Christmas Card

I want to say, first of all, that I love the color challenge at the Pals Paper Arts blog this week.

I think these colors are just great!  I admit that I've been trying to focus on Christmas things lately but I felt pretty confident that I could use these colors and make something Christmasy as well.  It being Friday, I checked out the Clean and Simple sketch challenge and went with this weeks sketch to make my card.

I ended up flipping the image panel and the sentiment panel and I did manage to squeeze in a Christmas theme.

It's been a while since I've used Regal Rose and the big brads from the Hodgepodge Hardware.  Sometimes it's nice to be reminded to use things that you've neglected for far too long!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

MOJO167 & cQc61 Christmas Tag

First, I saw this fabulous color challenge over at the Colour Q blog:

I have to admit I have a thing for peacock colors, so I knew right away that I wanted to participate in this challenge.  I paired my card with the latest MOJO sketch.

Of course, the last challenge of the month is always a choice between a round or square card.  I went with the round and made a Christmas tag. 

First, let me say that this looks WAY better in real life.  I stamped the leaf from the French Foliage stamp set on Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise card stock.  I added Dazzling Diamonds to the Tempting Turquoise leaves and chunky glitter to the Pacific Point leaves.  I stamped some leafy bits from the Tropical Party stamp set onto Soft Suede and cut everything out.  I layered it all together, added some rhinestones in the center and presto!  My version of some peacock feathers!

It's really quite sparkly and that doesn't come across in the photo at all. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Monochromatic Snowman

This Sunday I checked out the color challenge over at Stacey's Stamping Stage and I really wanted to participate.  The colors were so fresh and fun, I didn't think I could resist.  But I'm in Christmas mode so I wasn't sure how I could make this work.  So I picked the Walzingmouse Sketch challenge for a layout and set to work.

I chose Crumb Cake as my base layer (since it was the easiest way to add that color for this challenge) and went with the other colors from there.  I stamped the snowman in Black Stazon and then outlined the scarf and hat in Concord Crush and filled in the colors with Basic Gray.

I really wanted to add an orange carrot nose and some brown branch arms, but I realized that this would not qualify for the color challenge.  It was then that I knew that despite the lack of color (or in spite of it), this snowman had a nice look to it.   A {somewhat} monochromatic look to be sure, but a look all the same.  All I know is that the more I look at it the more I like it!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Friday Mashup 20 Christmas Tag

Lately I've been totally focused on making tags for my Christmas gifts.  Today I made a tag (or something like a tag) using the Friday Mashup color challenge for inspiration.

I thought my awesome Medallion stamp needed some love, and I've been seeing it used lately in a lot of holiday themed projects, so I thought I could do something neat with it. Then I saw the Paper Players challenge to use wet embossing and I figured this was a match made in heaven!

So I embossed the Medallion stamp in silver emobssing powder on basic black cardstock.  It is very dramatic in real life.  Then I popped up my real red and whisper white circles with dimensionals.  It looks really neat.  I'm either going to use this a front to a gift bag or use it as a tag.  I haven't decided yet.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Just Add Ink 45

When I was a kid I really enjoyed drawing and coloring.  To my young mind, there was pretty much nothing better than my big box of Crayola crayons.  I was very meticulous about my coloring too.  Absolutely no coloring outside the lines!

Well, fast forward a few years (too many to mention) and I still love coloring!  The problem is that I'm not as good at it as I was!!  I can't see what I'm doing all that well (I think I need better eye glasses) and I had a couple of cups of coffee before I started coloring this so my hand was not exactly steady!  But I persevered and used the Just Add Ink sketch challenge as my inspiration for this Christmas card.

For my card, I flipped the sketch and used the oh-so wonderful glass glitter to frame my stamped image.

Although I'm fairly certain I broke my own rule and colored outside the lines, I don't think my coloring is too horrible.  Hopefully, whoever gets this card will be so dazzled by the glitter they won't notice the shoddy coloring!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

FTL118 Christmas Tag

I can hardly believe it, but I think I am done with my Christmas shopping this year!  I've got to double-check my list, but I'm pretty sure I've crossed everyone off.  WOW!  That means that for the next few weeks I get to focus on fun stuff.

For starters, I've started making Christmas gift tags.  The FTL sketch this week provided my inspiration today.

A few weeks ago I made a card where I cut out the medallion on the Christmas Collage stamp and it was so involved, I thought I'd never do it again.  Well, time heals all wounds (or at least makes us forget) because today I did it again.  And this time, I really think it will be my last!

Once again, I turned to the fabulous color duo of Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler. I think I'll be reaching for these colors often as I make some more Christmas things.  They're so yummy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

ColourQ 60

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful day with good food, family and friends.  Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because it doesn't involve weeks and weeks of shopping for gifts for people and generally making yourself crazy!  It's all about spending time with those you are thankful for.

On Tuesday I saw this wonderful challenge at the ColourQ blog.  I thought these colors really looked great together.

So, being Thanksgiving and all I had to give it a try.  I went a little shabby on this card with the torn and inked-up edges.  I had seen a card in a recent issue of Stampin' Success that had this basic layout and when I sat down to put my card together, I thought a torn edge would be just the thing.

I keep saying that I'm done with the autumn inspired cards and that I'm making the transition to Christmas themed cards, but I keep finding these color challenges that I can't resist.  I can't help it!  I'm weak!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope that you are enjoying your holiday no matter how you choose to spend it!

MOJO 166

I can't believe that I've been able to get some stamping in this holiday week.  I don't have to do that much preparation this week, since I've been given the year off from hosting Thanksgiving, but I'm still making a few things to bring to my sisters on Thursday.  Last night I made some yummy eggplant caponata and tonight I'll make a black olive tapenade, followed by my super-fabulous (if I may say so myself) squash pie.  It's nice to be able to spread these things over several nights.

But onto my MOJO card.  Julee has dazzled us again with a card that's all tiltly and I couldn't seem to resist joining in the challenge fun!

For my card, I went with a Christmas theme and used the oh-so delish Cherry Cobbler.  I think I should have reversed the striped panel and the one with circles, but it's too late now! 

I can hardly believe that Christmas is only about a month away.  I've made quite a dent in my shopping list and I hope to finish it up very soon so that I can concentrate on making some nice home-made gifts.  I always seem to run out of time, but I really feel like I can do it this year!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Snowman Challenge

Despite the fact that it's not terribly cold here, I'm in a snowman kind of mood.  This week's Friday Mashup challenge was to incorporate a snowman into your project.  I've got the adorable Snow Buddies stamp set so I figured I was good to go.  Then I saw Paper Players sketch challenge and thought they would be perfect together.

I think it's been a while since I've incorporated Bashful Blue into a project, but I think snowmen and blue go hand in hand.  I think I'll send this to a friend of mine who lives in Florida.  She used to live in the northeast so I'm sure she misses snowmen (just kidding).

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

SSSC94 Christmas Wreath

Some years ago, I made some Christmas cards using a snowflake stamp to make a wreath.  I got the idea from several cards I had seen on Splitcoast Stampers.  I hadn't thought about it since then, but when I saw the Sweet Sunday sketch challenge I thought of that wreath.

I figured that round panel would be perfect for it.  So I dug out my Snow Flurries stamp set and stamped one of the snowflakes in a circle using Old Olive ink. 

I added some small circles in Ruby Red for berries.  I thought about adding some ribbon, but decided on using some crochet thread and a chocolate chip button.  Super cute!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!