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!

Gift Card Holder for Nine Four*

I'm not sure if I'm late to the party, but I have just discovered that an iTunes gift card is no longer the size of a "normal" gift card.  I bought one today at Walmart and instead of it being the customary 2 1/8" x 3 3/8" it was a whopping 3 3/8" x 5 1/4".  So all of my usual gift card holder templates are suddenly rendered irrelevant.

So off to the drawing board I go.  I wanted to use the sketch from Stamping 411, which was a nice, clean, and simple one.  Using that layaout, I created a holder that is 6 1/4" x 4 3/8".  It sort of looks like an envelope and is actually a little bigger than it needs to be, but I'm pretty happy with the result.  The gift card fits very comfortably inside.

For my gift card holder, I went into the vault and used some of my Holiday Lounge designer paper with some Taken With Teal cardstock (which I saved so that I could use it with the dp).

Since I used ribbon on this, it also qualifies for the Pals Paper Arts challenge. 
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

*My nephew is Nine Four.

Color Lab Challenge 19

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

This week our colors are inspired by the Candy Cane Christmas Designer Series Paper.  Our challenge was to use Real Red, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, and Garden Green.

I managed to squeeze in the MOJO sketch challenge here too.  I've got to admit I didn't think I could effectively combine all these colors, but I am surprisingly pleased with the result.  Since I didn't have the Candy Cane dp, I had to go into the vault with this card and use my Ski Slope dp from last year.

Thanks for stopping by, 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.

Mercy's Sketch & Paper Players

I think it's been a while since I've participated in Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge.  So this week I was determined to make a card with the sketch.  I paired it with the Paper Players color challenge (which I think has the most delicious colors I've seen this Christmas season).

I used Crumb Cake as my neutral so I didn't want to use another light colored panel on the oval (such as whisper white or very vanilla).  I stamped the tree from Perfect Presentation in Versamark on my Cherry Cobbler oval and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I sponged the edges of the Cherry Cobbler oval and I think it makes the embossed tree show up nicely.

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

Another Autumn Card

I really thought that I had made the transition from autumn to Christmas, but apparently I have not!  How could I when I saw the colors at the Curtain Call color challenge this week?  I fully intend to start concentrating on Christmas things from now on, but I couldn't resist squeaking in another autumn colored card.  I paired the color challenge with the sketch challenge over at the Sweetest Thing blog.  Here are the two together:

For my card I went for my French Foliage stamp set (surprise, surprise).  I also used the rock and roll technique on the leaves.  I think I'm getting the hang of it.  And since I hadn't done any sewing in while, I stitched the edges of the So Saffron and Peach Parfait panels.

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

Color Throwdown 118 Christmas

As soon as I saw the colors this week at the Color Throwdown blog, I knew I had to participate.  Who could say no to this?

I think I have made the transition to Christmas themes (at least I hope I have), so after much contemplation, I decided to make a Christmast card for this challenge.

I think it's a little bit of a clean and simple card, but I like it especially because it IS a clean and simple card.  I added some paper piercing to the soft suede and cherry cobbler panels to break up the design and I'm pretty happy with the result.

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

TF's Birthday

One of my nephews has just turned 18.  I can hardly believe it.  I know it sounds corny, but it seems like not that long ago he was a cute little kid who looked vaguely like the kid in "A Christmas Story."  Now he's a young man which, of course, means that I am his old aunt!  (But I'm still the cool aunt)!

For his birthday present I created a box and card with the colors over at the Color Dare blog.  For the card I used the FTL60 sketch layout (and oldie but goodie).  For the box I had intended to use the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 92, but after I put it all together I discovered that I missed a piece.  Oops!

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

Color Lab Challenge 18

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

Another fabulous bunch of fall colors.  This week, I thought it would be fun to NOT make a card!  I've been thinking of what I wanted to make for Thanksgiving favors and I think I have found just the thing.  What do you think?

I have a fascination with these matchboxes.  They're so simple to make and always a big hit when you give them away.  And of course, I found myself reaching for my French Foliage stamp set {again}.  I can't seem to stay away from it.

Thanks for stopping by 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.

Card Holder

 A while back I made this card.  I really liked how it turned out and I had it sitting front and center on my table since I made it.  I was waiting for an opportunity to put it to good use.  Well, I've decided to make another card just like it and I thought a holder for the two of them would be just the thing.

I plan on giving the set away.  I think they are awfully bright and cheery and I hope that the recipient feels the same way.

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

Friday Mashup #17

About a week ago, I was chosen to be the Mashup Maven over at the Friday Mashup challenge blog for this card that I made.  I'm always humbled when a card I've made is chosen as noteworthy of some sort.  I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but I find it very difficult to appreciate what I have created in an objective way.  So it's nice to be validated by others.  I'm sure you know what I mean.  We are invariabley our own worst critics.

So today, I get to be the guest designer on the Friday Mashup blog.  This week is a color challenge, and I've got to say, these colors are beyond fabulous.

I had some grandiose plans for showcasing these colors and made a couple of different cards before I settled on the one here.  I ended up using a layout that I had seen in the Stampin' Up! summer mini catalog.  I've switched up the colors and stamp sets from the one in the catty, but I've kept the layout intact.

And I've also got to say that I love the phrases in the stamp set I used here for the sentiment.  Very strong and inspirational in my humble opinion.

Thanks for stopping by, thanks to everyone at Friday Mashup, and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Lab Challenge 17

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

Aren't these colors scrumptious?  I have always loved "Indian" corn.  I've got a bunch of it in my house on display on a cool corn drying rack that I picked up at an antique shop in Indiana.  So I had no problem diving right into this challenge.

For my layout I chose the sketch challenge over at Mercy's Tuesday Sketch challenge.  I've decided that I haven't used the crochet ribbon nearly enough and I have challenged myself to use it on at least three projects this Christmas season.  I hope I can pull it off!
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.

MOJO163 and Curtain Call 54

Hello everyone!  I feel like it's been a while since I did a MOJO sketch, but this one was too cute to pass up!  I'm not sure I like the result all that much, but that's what happens sometimes.  I paired the sketch with the color challenge over at the Curtain Call.  Here's the sketch and color combo together:

I just love these fall colors.  I thought they were perfect for my French Foliage stamp set.  I find myself reaching for this set over and over again..  Hard to believe that I wasn't planning on buying it at first!  (Thank you Sylvia for convincing me that I had to have this stamp set)! 

Although I think this card looks better in real life, I think it needs something.  Maybe more leaves.

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