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!

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!

Unusual Christmas Colors

I don't know about you, but sometimes I like to make a card that is totally "out of the box."  This weeks Pals Paper Arts color challenge really had me scratching my head.  Not because the challenge was weird or anything, but because in my mind, I had made the transition to autumn and christmas and these colors just didn't fit with cards made with those themes in mind.

But still, I like the colors a lot.  Then on Saturday I checked out the latest Waltzingmouse sketch challenge, which clearly invoked images of Christmas.  I started thinking about how I could combine the two.

Many years ago I visited Arizona.  On my trip there, I met up with an old friend of my husband's and for some reason we started talking about Christmas trees.  She, of course, decorated a Christmas tree as is the tradition in this country, but I couldn't help thinking that this was decidedly strange because she lived in a desert that had no such thing as pine trees.  While my Christmas tree was made of pine and was decorated with complementary colors hers should (by rights) be a native desert plant with the fabulous, intense colors of the desert.  So, in honor of those that live in places where pine trees don't exist, and the colors of the Christmas season don't necessarily conform to tradition, may I present my non-conformist Christmas card.

When I made this card, I had in mind those Saguaro cactus and Prickly Pear cactus that sport those fabulous colorful flowers in spring. 

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

WMSC13 Halloween Card

I don't know why, but I was feeling very nostalgic today for some very, very old designer paper from Stampin' Up!  I got it in my head that I wanted to use this paper, so I scoured blogland until I found a sketch challenge that I wanted to do with my cherished paper.  I settled on the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

I'm not sure why, but as soon as I saw the sketch I thought of a halloween card.  I've been dying for an excuse to use my From the Crypt stamp set and originally that is what I set out to do.  But the sketch had other ideas and evenutally persuaded me to use the Batty For You stamp set instead.

I embossed the stamped image to make it really show up and it looks fabulous in real life.  I was a little worried that the writing was too small and would come out all smudgy but I'm happy to report that it looks pretty good.  I can clearly read that is says "scaredy-cat."  This is my second halloween card this 2010 season, and I suspect it won't be my last.  I can't help myself!

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