Non Traditional Packaging-Christmas Stampin All Year Long

Good morning!  How was your week?  Can you believe it's Friday already?!!!  This week has gone so fast.  It's already time for another challenge at Christmas Stampin All Year Long.  This week we're doing it up non-traditionally and making packages.  When I say non-traditional I'm referring to color, you can use any colors but reds or greens. Our sponsor for this weeks challenge is the fabulous Perfect Presentation and they have so generously offered a free template to the winner of it!  So what are you waiting for?!!!  Let's get started!!!

The team and I have been busy creating some wonderful samples to inspire you.  Here's what I did:

I went with their Tall Gable Box template for my project.

I printed the template on Really Rust (I had to ask my family if this looked red and they informed me it was more of an orange than a red) card stock.  All I had do after that was make my cuts and scores and embellish.  The image is Warm & Cold from Penny Black stamps and I colored it using prismacolor pencils.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Snowflake set (retired).

Until next time, have a great day and thanks for stopping by!  TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Inspiring Christmas-Christmas Stampin All Year Long

Today at Christmas Stampin All Year Long, it's time to get inspired!  I love inspiration challenges!!  It's so much fun  to look around at the things we see in every day life, photographs, gardens, magazines, and create cards that draw from those things.  You can find inspiration in just about anything but this week we've got that one covered for you.  Here is our muse:

And here is what I did with it:

As you can see I chose to be inspired by the colors, but you may notice I also played on the circular shape of the wreath by choosing this cute snowman image from Penny Black stamps.  I colored him using copic markers.  

I can't wait to see what you do with the challenge.  We'd love for you to play along with us this week and possibly be chosen as our guest designer.  Sound like fun?!!!

Until next time, have a great day and thanks for stopping by!  TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Switching Gears

I decided to take a break from all the Halloween stuff and get a head start on some Christmas cards. With the way time is flying by, it'll be here before you know it and I want to be prepared.

What better way to get your Christmas mojo going than to do a challenge. After seeing the fabulous set Maria created, I just had to give it a try. This is a double pocket bag with matching card. You can find the details for this challenge on Christmas Stampin All Year Long or better known as CSAYL.

I pulled out my favorite Penny Black Christmas stamp (Warm & Cold) and some designer paper and away I went. I stamped the snawman in Tempting Turquoise and colored him with my Copics. I think I got a little carried away with all the snowflakes, ribbon and buttons but I just couldn't stop myself.

I have to say, I love these cute little bags and plan to make more. I think my coworkers will go crazy when they see them.

I'm already working on another one but it's gonna have to wait to be finished later. I'm really tired and need some sleep. I feel like I'm coming down with something again. I sure hope not!

Y'all have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Becky

Hey baby it's hot outside

Good morning! Hope y'all are having a great summer.

It's been hotter than blazes here and that's why I chose to do a card with a frosty cold theme. I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe I'll feel a little cooler because of it. That, and I've been trying to get some challenges done. I'm back at work this week, so my craft time has been shortened so I combined three challenges in one for today's card.


The layout of this card is from Taylors weekly sketch challenge. It's a Christmas card with glitter on the snowman and snowflake so it fits the Christmas Stampin All Year Long challenge and I included a few buttons for this weeks challenge on Crazy 4 Challenges.

I love it when that happens.

Here are the deets: the snowman is a Penny Black stamp (Warm & Cold) colored with Copics and covered with stickles.

The papers are from The Paper Studio Co. and K&I Co.

I made the snowflake by cutting out flower 1 on pg 36 of my Storybook cart and clipping away every other scallop along the outside edge. I then used some of the negative cuts and added glued them to the scallops I had left. I then added stickles to the edges to make it look frosty.

I'm sorry to say though that it's still hotter than blazes here but I tried.

Have a great day! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Pretty Penny

Have you seen all the fun stuff going on over on the Color Throwdown blog? They're celebrating 100 color challenges! Wowee!!!!! They are giving away over $1700.00 dollars worth of amazing prizes! The fun all started yesterday and you can bet I wanted in on it.

I'm new to this challenge, I mean I had heard about it before, but this is the first time I've joined in. Here's how it works: each week there's a new color combo and you make a card or project based on those colors. You don't even have to be exact which is good for me cause I didn't have all of them and had to improvise.

Here is my submission for this weeks color throwdown.

I stamped the flowers first and masked them and stamped the flowers in the background over them. I then colored them using Copics. I love these Penny Black flowers in red, don't you?

I then punched the image out using my oval nestie and sponged around the flowers.

I paired the image with various DP's from Marks Papers Company and MME.

I thought I was finished before I added the squares at the bottom but it just looked like it needed a little something more. I rummaged through my buttons and came up with these cute little ladybug buttons. Just a few snips with my scissors and some glue and they became the icing on the cake, so to speak. I think it was meant to be.

Time for me to get off this crazy contraption and check on the boy child to see if he's okay! He's always been an early riser but has taken to sleeping in this summer. Ahhhhhh! To be a teenager again and sleep as late as you want! Wait!!!! Did I just say I wanted to relive my youth? That's just crazy talk!!! I guess I've forgotten all the other stuff that went along with being a teen. No thank you!!! I'll just keep things as they are!

You all have a terrific day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Sunny Birthday Flowers

My darling daughter needed a birthday card for her best friend and of course, she didn't wnat any of the many cards that I have in my stash, so I made this one. I've had this color combo in my head for about a week now so when I had no problem deciding on that. I picked up a mat pack earlier in the week and it had these wonderful papers in it. Perfect for making sunny flowers.

I inked up the stems only on my Garden Poems stamp (Penny Black) with Basic Brown ink and stamped them on the gingham paper. The leaves were colored with Copics.

The sentiment is from Inkadinkado's Birthday Cupcakes set and I stamped it in Basic Brown.

This was a pretty simple card and I think she's gonna like it.

Have a great day! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Hedgehog Thank You's.

Wow! Two posts in the same week. I know I said I was gonna jump back in nice and slow, but I made these cute little 4x4 Thank You cards yesterday and wanted to share them with you.

I used my Penny Black acrylic stamps for the focal image. I just love this little hedgehog! He looks like he knows how to have a good time. I stamped him on a cut out from my Storybook cart and colored him with Copics. I pulled out some of my Basic Grey two sided paper cause it went perfectly with all of the images. I've been hoarding it for about a year or so, but it was time to let it go. You can't see it in the picture but the fur trim is all sparkly from the stickles. All it needed was a few snowflakes to finish it off.

These happy little cards have found their homes with my students and coworkers to say thank you for all the fun gifts they gave me over the holidays. It's so much fun to see their faces light up when they open them and realize they were handmade specially for them. Just too cool!

I hope you enjoyed them too! I'm off to bed now! I've decided to start getting up an hour earlier to excercise before I head off to work and today's workout has left me very tired. I'll be back to chat later on in the week. Have a great day!!!! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Happy Birthday to my MIL

Hi all! Happy Wednesday! I hope you all are having a great week. I added three shifts to my work week so I'm now working full time. Great for the pocket book but not so great for my blogging.

Don't worry! I'll get the hang of it in no time.

I did get the chance to do some stamping this weekend but am just getting around to posting.
I wanted to share the card I made for my MIL's birthday. She doesn't have a computer, let along blog, so I know it's safe to post it here even though she hasn't received it yet.

I used last week's layout from CPS but added a few extras. I am channeling a little bit of Jessie Rone on this card with the spiral clip and ribbon. She's a good friend and I just love her style and couldn't resist. It just needed that extra touch.

I started by stamping "garden poems" (Penny Black) on kraft cs in brilliance graphite black and heat embossing with black ep. I colored the image with my copics and then sponged white pigment ink around the edges. The papers are from my classic coordinating prints mat pack(DCWV). Butterflies (Martha Stewart punch) are embellished with black crystal stickers (Elements). I embossed half of the background with birds and swirls ef and also sponged the edges. Ovals were cut with my cricut and george cart. Other embellies are offray ribbon, swirl clip and brads.

She is gonna love this for sure.

That's it for today. Make sure to stop in tomorrow to check out this week's Sketches card.

Have a great evening! Hugs to you all! TTFN

Should old aquaintance be forgot and never more to roam.....

Happy New Year and welcome to 2009. I hope everyone had fun celebrating the passing of 2008, we sure did.

While 2008 will be forever etched in my mind, I am more than happy to see it's passing and to embrace the wonders that 2009 has to bring us.

I have a few Christmas cards that I made left to show you and then I am moving onto other things. Yeah! I can hear you all cheering all the way from here. LOL

This first one I made using the wonderful gifts I recieved from Catherine. This was super easy to create because the DP already had the layout printed on it. All I did was add the stamped image and some embellies and it was done. Easy, peasy!

This next set was made for a gift exchange at work. The basket was filled with some yummy Key Lime Almond Bark candy that I made. That card is one of those pop up gift card holders they had featured in a challenge on SCS and was perfect for the Target card that I gave. My coworker loved it!

This last card was made using my wonderful Just Rite stamps that I recieved from my SBS2 sistah Alana right before Christmas. I had some red cellophane left over from my gift wrapping and thought it would be fun to try and stamp on it with my White Stazon. I really like the results and will have to remember to try this again. The wreath was made with my MS fern punch and red stickles.

Card #1
Stamps: Snowman (Stamerosity)
Paper: Cranberry, Winter Mat Pack (DCWV)
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
Accessories: Snowflake Punch (Martha Stewart), Copic Markers, Stickles, Chipboard tag.

Card and basket #2
Stamps: Snowpeople Border (Hero Arts), Warm & Cold (Penny Black)
Paper: Ruby Red, Olive, White, Garden Green
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
Accessories: Copics, Stickles, Snowflake and Fern Punch (Martha Stewart), Ribbon, Brads, Piercing Tool.

Card # 3
Stamps: Christmas Ensemble (Just Rite), Snowflakes (Stampin Up)
Paper: Real Red, White, Cellophane
Inks: White Stazon, White Pigment
Accessories: Fiskars Circle Template and Cutter, Cuttlebug and Snowflake EF, Ribbon, Fern Punch (Martha Stewart), Red Stickles.

That's it for Christmas. It is now put away until next year. I know you are as glad as I am to see it go. TTFN

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. It's amazing just how busy a person gets at this time of year. I know I'm not the only one. We're all busy, but isn't it fun?

For today's card I chose to play with my Penny Black stamps. I just love her cute little images. I actually made this card about a week or so ago but I haven't been in my stamp room since and forgot to post it. *GASP* I really need to free up some me time. KWIM?

Anywho, back to the card.

I stamped the image using my Brilliance Graphite Black and then coloring it with my Copics (B00,B02,BG15,E00,Y21,YR23,C-1,C-7) and my SU Sahara Sand for the bottom shadowing. Once I colored my image I then sponged Choco Chip and Cocoa around the outside edges. The papers are Caribbean, White, and Daisy D DP. I used my Martha Stewart Border Punch for the white and then embossed up to the scallops with my Snowflake EF. I stamped the Caribbean with my Rhonna Farrer Swirls stamp using Apricot. The snowflake embelly was made by me using my scallop punch, Martha Stewart Punch, stickles, a pearl stick on and a felt snowflake from JoAnns. I added the gold ribbon, velvet ribbon and sentiment circle (studio g) to give it that final touch.

I hope you all are enjoying all the hustle and bustle that comes with this season. We are enjoying a blast of cold air today after some serious storms yesterday. Can we say tornadoes? Go figure. So glad they didn't actually touch down here because me and my whole family slept through the sirens. That's all I have for now. Gotta go to work! Have a fantastic day! TTFN

Trying a new technique

Happy Sunday to you all! I hope you all are having a great weekend. I had a pretty good weekend. I'm happy cause I found a little bit of time to stamp today in between loads of laundry and cleaning.
I was playing around with a new technique and this is the card that I came up with. It's inspired by a card made by my new blogging friend Shirley. It looks like she embossed over her image but I thought, maybe it would look nice if I reverse dry embossed over mine using my cuttlebug. You can't see in the picture, but I also heat embossed the swirls with UTEE. I just ran my versamark pad over the raised parts of my embossing folder and then ran it through the cuttle and sprinkled UTEE over it then hit is with the heat gun. I really like the way it looks.

I also heat embossed the sentiment circle with UTEE. I love this Flying Stars stamp by Penny Black. I stamped it in Brilliance Graphite Black and colored it using my SU markers. I then blurred the colors with my Aqua Painter. Sponged a little color around the image and then dry embossed it. For the background I stamped the Floral Fantasy backgrounder in Bravo Burgundy on Barely Banana. Add some ribbon and brads to finish it off and this was the end result.

My new job is going well. I'm still training this week but I don't think I'll be putting in as many hours! I really like my job and love being back in the work force. The kids and hubby are all adjusting well, so I'm really glad. It does cut into my stamping time, but I think that's only temporary.

That's all I have for today. I need to get my hiney in bed. I have to be up in seven hours and I really need my beauty sleep.

Thanks for stopping in to see me. Have a great day! TTFN

Black and white mojo

Wow! Can you believe it's Wednesday already! Where did the week go?

We were out of town visiting relatives over the Memorial holiday and had a great time. My brother and his wife live out in the country and we got to ride the quads and enjoy country living for a couple of days. It was nice.

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling all to well, so no stamping for me. Today I'm feeling a little better. Good enough to get a couple of cards done. One is for the DT that I am on and I'll share that with you tomorrow, but the other was for Julee's Mojo Monday. I just love her sketches and this weeks was no different. This card came together super quick! I think it took me about seven minutes. It's black and white so that did save some time. LOL

The stamped image is "Flying Stars" from Penny Black. I used the cracked glass technique over the image and used glossy card stock, thinking it wouldn't yellow, but it did slightly. The background was cuttlebugged using my floral and swiss dots folders. That's it, pretty darn simple, but still very elegant.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN

Sketch #44 and a few other cards and things

I'm a bad blogger! I can't believe it's been a week since I posted. There is just so much going on here. I feel like I'm moving in circles sometimes. I've been busy with a card order and a MDay project and then there is all that end of year, let's pack as much as we can, rush to the end of schoolyear stuff. Whew! I'm tired! How bout you?
I'm still trying to collect addresses so that I can send out graduation announcements. That's a big chore. We've had so many friends and family members move and or change their phone numbers. I've resorted to posting bulletins! LOL
I am going to post the pictures of some of my recent projects without the deets. I will edit this later and add them, but if you have any questions before that, feel free to email me.

Here is the collage that I put together for my mom. My sister and her husband made the frame and sent it to me to fill with pictures. She absolutely loved it!

Sorry it's so fuzzy! I tried and tried to get a good picture. In the corner are the words "A Mother's Love". Can you believe that's only about half of her children and grandchildren?

Here are some cards that I've been working on. I got a gift certificate to HL for my birthday and picked up some of those cute "Changito" stamps from Stampendous, and the very pretty "Modesty" stamp from Penny Black. I also picked up "Row Of Cupcakes" from Stamp Happens. Yeah me! I am having so much fun playing with all of them. I also picked up a block of Fabriano watercolor paper. Can you say fabulous? Any who! Here are the cards.

Modesty stamp.

Row of Cupcakes.

Changito B-day.

Changito Thank U

You know that this is Thursday and you know what that means. Sketches by Tamara. This is my card for sketch #44. Pop and over and check out the fantastic job the team has done. As always, we would love for you to play along and would love to see what you've done, so post a comment on Tamara's blog with a link to your card.

This is a 3x3 card and went together in less than tem minutes. The cutting took the longest! I hope you enjoy everything! Sorry this is such a long post, but that's what happens when I haven't posted for a while.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by! TTFN

Blush blush sketch challenge

Howdy and happy Thursday! I can't believe the week is almost over! It went really fast!

I had a little time yesterday between visits to my mom and volunteering at my sons school, so I thought I would try to do the sketch challenge on SCS and what a great sketch it is!

I was watching some TV program with my mom last week and there was a room with these colors and I immediately thought, "that would look nice on a card". I can't for the life of me remember what the show was or what it was about, just these colors. Isn't that too funny! Can you say serious stamping addict here? Anyway, this is what happens when the sketch challenge and my brain collide!

The main image is my Blush stamp by Penny Black. The background is a floral stamp from Judikins. I don't know the name of it because there isn't one on it. The sentiment is from a set called Baby Dear by Inkadinkadoo.

The paper is blush blossom, white, and black with the sentiment stamped with black stazon on acetate. I used black pigment ink for the flower and background and heat embossed with black embossing powder.

I added some ribbon and brads and dry embossing with my cuttlebug and textile and flower embossing folders. I also added piercing around the main image just because I thought it needed a little something more. I love the way it turned out and now I can get those colors out of my head.

I'm off to do laundry and I am so excited about it! It's not that I love to do laundry, it's just that I have been without a dryer for about two weeks now and I got a new dryer yesterday. Whoo hoo!!!!! It's nothing fancy, but it will just be so nice to not have to run to the laundromat to dry clothes.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Jen's Sketch Challenge

I actually stamped this card yesterday, but didn't get the chance to post it until now! I don't care how old your kids get, you still worry about them when they are sick. I didn't get much sleep last night because Bree is still sick. It's officially the flu! DH and I were worried that because of her high fevers and sore throat that she might have strep, so I took her to the DR. today and it wasn't strep, thank goodness. Poor baby, she is such a trooper and doesn't complain much at all. She's been sleeping a lot, but that's what she needs!
This card was made for Jen's sketch challenge. I love her sketches and haven't gotten around to doing them for a while, but since DH has been working long hours I needed something other than housework to fill my time. In my opinion, stamping should always come before housework. I just wish I could convince DH.
It's pretty self explanatory. I did use my hobby knife to cut around the top flower so that it would lay over the scalloped square. The flowers were heat embossed using Black Pigment Ink and Black EP. The butterfly was embossed on Vellum with stickles added to make it sparkle.

Recipe
Stamps: Blush (Penny Black) Flowers (Rhonna Farrer) Baby Dear (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: Barely Banana, Basic Black, Vellum, Striped paper (the paper factory)
Ink: Black Pigment Ink
Accessories: Ribbon, Ribbon Punch, Black EP, Word Window Punch, Brads, Craft Knife, Heat Tool, Stickles

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Tag holder Taylor VanBruggen style

Hello all! First off I would just like to say a big thanks for all the kind words and cyber hugs. You sure do know how to make a girl feel loved!
I have been MIA, getting my mom settled into the new place and spending time with her while she began to make new friends. My dad found out last week that he has Shingles and can't visit her until he has been on antibiotics for 5 days, so I have been spending more time than usual with her. She is settling in nicely. Prayers are working!!!
I have also been busy with some stamping projects that I can't show you til after the holidays. I have elfed a couple of ladies on SCS and don't know for sure if they visit my blog or not and I want to remain anonymous so you'll have to wait.
I spent this weekend trying out Taylor's Altered File Folder. I didn't fold it right, but decided to go with it anyway. You should check out her awesome blog. She is a terrific stamper and I just love everything she does!

The cardstocks I used were Bravo Burgundy and Creamy Caramel (SU). The DPs are Swirling Snowflakes from Kelly Panacci and Christmas Theme #1211 from Petals &Possibilities that I purchased from Recollections.
The stamps are Snowflakes (SU), Snowpeople Border (Hero Arts) and Warm & Cold (Penny Black).
I used my punches, stickles, brads, ribbon, raffia and my Cuttlebug and Swirls EF and SU markers. The white on the snowpeople was done by using one of my blending pens and White Pigment Ink.


The card was made for Jen's weekend layout challenge.

I just love this snowman from Penny Black and have been wanting him for quite some time. I had a dear friend come by last weekend and she purchased almost all of my Christmas cards so I had some extra cash and decided to splurge and buy myself an early Christmas present.

Have a great day and stop by again some time!

More Christmas.....hope your not getting sick of them

Hi all! Hope you had a good day yesterday. I stayed up late Tuesday and stamped a card for the layout challenge on SCS and then slept in yesterday. That is, I went back to bed after I made sure the kids got off to school. I should have known better that to go back to bed. Whenever I do that I usually end up with a headache. Boy, did I ever. One of those close the blinds, no loud noises, take some Tylenol and lay down kind of migraines. I feel much better today.
I have two cards to post today. The one I stayed up to make and the one that I made this morning. They both use the same layout but have a completely different look to them.

For this one I used Creamy Caramel CS and DP from Petals and Possibilities, Daisy D, and Kelly Panacci. I stamped the snowflakes first in Versamark and then in Cranberry Crisp on a piece of CS. I then ran it through my Xyron putting the sticky side over my printed snowflakes. I glittered them with Dazzling Diamonds and heated them with my heat tool. The stamped area resisted the glitter but the empty spaces around the snowflake didn't. It looks really cool IRL. I then cut them out and added them and the ribbon. That's it.....pretty darn simple!

For this one I used my Penny Black stamps. I just love these little hedgehogs. I pulled out my scraps that I had from earlier in the week and went to work. I colored the image using my ink pads (elegant eggplant, creamy caramel,soft sky, going gray, pretty in pink and silver pigment ink) and blending pens and then added Liquid Applique over the snow. I used my cuttlebug and swirl EF to add texture. The photo corners were made by running a piece of soft sky through my Xyron and sprinkling Dazzling Diamonds over it. I then used my square punch and scallop square punch (cut that in half) to make the corners. I then used my larger scallop punch to make the bottom corners. I added the tag (cuttlebug die), the ribbon, stickles and the snowflakes to give it that something extra. This one gives me a warm fuzzy. It reminds me of the winters we had in Washington and sledding with the kids. What great fun!!!

That's all I have for now. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Another Figgy Christmas Card

Oh man, am I stuffed! What a great day it was. My mom got to come home from the nursing facility that she's in and we enjoyed every minute that we got to spend with her. I was in the kitchen most of the day but I had a great assistant. My son, who one day wants to be a chef, helped me out quite a bit. He's only 10 but knows his way around the kitchen quite well. I am so proud of the young man that he is becoming!
As tired as I was from all of the cooking, I still managed to get a little stamp time in. I made this card for the challenge on SCS. I love to stitch on cards and that was the challenge today. I used the same CS and DP that I used for yesterdays card because I wanted to use it up and not leave scraps. This time I used my Penny Black stamps. I just love her little hedgehog images. Here is what I came up with.

I just love this DP and this color combo with it, don't you? I colored the image using my blender pens and stamp pads. Of course, I used some stickles on the stocking (I just gotta have sparkle). The sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo. The DP is Basic Greys Figgy Pudding and I used my scallop square punch to make the corners and corner punch to make the scallops. The stitched part is along the scalloped border. Pretty cute, huh?

I am going to brave the crowds tomorrow with my daughters. I hate to shop but my daughters love to so I am going to chauffeur them around. My oldest can drive but she has had 4 minor accidents in the last 3 months and I think it's gonna be a little crazy out there. I would be a nervous wreck all day so for my peace of mind, I'll just drive and enjoy spending some time with my girls. If your gonna be one of those brave souls too, I hope you find some great deals. Have a great day and Happy Stamping!!!!