Happiest of Days

Well, I think I'm back to some kind of "normal"?? Anyhow, I saw this photo at the Moxie Fab World for Cath's Tuesday Trigger. It brings a sense of serenity, doesn't it? Just what I needed after the Holiday Hoopla!

Made this card using the same color scheme, but decided to go with the "homey" feel rather than the "beachy". I started with a damask "pillow" (the square) that mimics the pillows in the photo. Added a darling little butterfly, bow, and a fitting sentiment: "Wishing You the Happiest of Days". Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Gift Ideas

Here it is Christmas night, the gifts are open, the festivities are done. We had a wonderful Chrismtas celebrating the birth of our Savior, and enjoying the gift of family! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, as well!

I just thought I'd pop on tonight and share some of the gifts I made for my mom and sisters. I purchased a roll of wrapping paper, matching ribbon, and then made gift tags to match. I often put these ensembles together for "token" birthday gifts for friends. I made these for my sisters 2 years ago and they loved them, so thought I'd do it again this year for Christmas. (I've even put together a year round set for a Bridal Shower gift.)


These first two were for my sisters. One sister has 3 boys, so I wanted to make her a more grown-up girly set for her to use for her girlfriends. The second set is for my sister who has 4 girls. She's constantly buying gifts for the various birthday parties her girls are invited to. Thought this would be appropriate.

These last two were for my mom. One set of "boy" and one set of "girl". She has 6 granddaughters and 5 grandsons, so I'm sure these will get used up pretty quickly! If you're ever stumped for a gift idea for a girlfriend, think about trying this - they'll love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

My Life Is So Blessed

I have been dying to get into my studio and fulfill my challenge fix, but once again my day filled up with the hustle and bustle of Christmas. I was determined to accomplish something, so I took 20 minutes to create something for the Just Us Girls Color Challenge. They are such fun colors together, and some of my favorites for Christmas, but I need everyday cards, so went with that.

This card didn't end up being my most favorite card, but it's ok. Hoping to get some time tomorrow to create some more. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Background Basics:Diamonds and Text Style, Heartfelt Basics), Martha Stewart Clear Pattern Stamps

Cardstock: PTI Raspberry Fizz and Kraft, CTMH Topiary and White Daisy

Inks: CTMH Topiary, Watermelon and White Daisy, PTI Pure Poppy

Accessories: PTI Vintage Buttons, Ribbon Twine,

A Quick Thank You

My blogging friend, 3 Dudes and a Diva at Our Little Six Pack blog, honored me with this award last week, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I appreciate the shout out she gave me, and if you have a chance, check out her blog for some fun updates on her family, as well as some fabulous paper craft inspirations!

Gift Tags Galore

I have been making tags galore lately, and quickly snapped a picture of them before I put them on all of the packages. Lots of different products used and several different styles to go with the age groups of the recipients.

These two are the same, only reverse colors. I embossed them with my Quickutz snowflake folder. These are more for accents on the gifts than anything. How's your preparations coming along? I'm just about finished and am looking forward to some studio time this week!

Here's some pictures of them on some of the packages:

Thank for stopping by today!

Custom Box

I needed a little something extra for my niece's Christmas gift (because like all good aunt's they spend the same amount on each one to keep it fair. Ha Ha). She's a 7 year old who is totally into the girly thing so I bought some mini bottles of nail polish in all the trendy colors and some nail decals. I wanted to put it all together in a fun package so I custom made my own box. It was inspired by a crayon box of all things. It has two compartments inside made to be "stadium style" The lid is hinged on the back just like a crayon box. It took me a bit to figure it out, but I was happy with the results.

I made it out of black cardstock and kept the decorations to a minimum. I added a strip of hot pink polka dotted cs, ribbon and a "B" charm so she can claim it as her own.

Thanks for stopping by today!

All supplies are from CTMH, except charm is from Charm Gallery (found at Michael's)

Christmas 2009

Sorry I've been so delinquent in posting lately! I've been busy making my 150+ Christmas cards. I finally finished yesterday, so thought I'd snap some pics before I started stuffing them into envelopes. I had no desire to move them all into better lighting, so I apologize for the poor picture quality!

I have 4 different prints, but all the same layout. I picked up a Anna Griffin Black & Ivory Fushion Designer Paper Pad, and chose 4 different prints for my cards. And, below is what 150 homemade Christmas cards look like (actually 130, since I already handed out 22 of them).

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Peace On Earth

Hey y'all! How's the Holiday preparations coming? I was able to take a couple of days to shop, wrap, plan and prep, so I'm feeling pretty good. Needed some time in the studio, though, this morning. I have been wanting to use my glitter rub-ons from CTMH for some time now, so I picked out a sketch from Just Us Girls that would work great. I decided to keep the card stark white so that these crystal blue glitter snowflakes could shine. I heat embossed the "Peace On Earth" with some silver embossing powder, and matted the piece with some silver paper from American Crafts.

I also just couldn't resist adding some bling to those glittery snowflakes with some clear sparkles. So simple, so easy, but so elegant! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

All Supplies from CTMH, except silver paper from American Crafts.

Sweet Wishes

Taking a break from Christmas because I need to get a jump on my January birthday cards. With 2 nieces, a nephew, a sister and a couple of friends with birthdays in January, I need to get an early start. Here is one I made using Clean and Simple's Fall-to-Layout #70. I love this easy to create sketch, and will definately be using it again! For this card I clear embossed the polka dots onto a cocoa card base (fun technique with a cool look - you should try it!) I also stamped the diamond image with cocoa ink onto a hot pink piece of scrap. I thought it needed just a bit of another color, so I added the aqua ribbon and flower brad just to amp it up a bit.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: CTMH Cupcake Sprinkles, PTI Background Basics: Diamonds, Polka Dot Basics II, Everday Button Bits

Cardstock: CTMH White Daisy, Cocoa

Patterned Paper: Scraps from stash

Inks: CTMH Cocoa, Versamark

Accessories: Making Memories ribbon and flower brad, CTMH sparkle brad and clear embossing powder

A Cheery Christmas

I took my daughters out Christmas shopping tonight for their brothers. We ended our night at Target, where I was once again inspired by a color combo of pink, red, light blue and green. I thought it was so cheery, and I knew it would make a fun card! I used the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You (I turned it on it's side).

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: CTMH (Tiny Typewriter, Priceless Love), PTI (Borders & Corners: Rectangles, Polka Dot Basics)

Cardstock: CTMH (White Daisy, Heavenly Blue, Tulip), PTI (Sweet Blush)

Patterned Paper: Imaginesce

Inks: CTMH (Tulip, Topiary, Twilight, Blush)

Accessories: Ribbon from stash, CTMH Sparkle Brads

What Is It With Me...?

What is it with me and hot cocoa lately?? Seems that hot cocoa is my theme this year for Christmas. Just hearing those words makes me feel warm and cozy! Anyhow, I received my "prize" from Creative Cuts and 2 Sketches 4 You yesterday, and this darling mug stamp was in the package. It was the first thing I pulled out to play with. I used the sketch from Mojo Monday, and kept the card clean and simple. Nothing fancy on this one - no explanation necessary.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: Imaginesce

Cardstock: CTMH & Bazzill

Patterned Paper: Imaginesce

Accessories: Imaginesce (Rub-ons)

Christmas Joy

I'm back! My houseguest left this morning, and as great as it was having her, it's also great to be back on a normal schedule! (which includes studio time!!). I just couldn't resist starting out with this week's Tuesday Trigger from the Moxie Fab World blog. I LOVE red and cream for Christmas - so classic! For the stocking, I did a bunch of masking, and stamped the different patterns to mimic that wonderful stocking from the trigger image. Isn't it gorgeous??

I decided to keep the card simple so the focus would be on that fabulous stocking! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI, Flourishes, CTMH

Carstock: CTMH, PTI

Inks: CTMH, Versamark

Accessories: PTI buttons

Merry Christmas

I'm back today with a card for the Get Sketchy sketch challenge. I received the stamps sets I won from Flourishes awhile back, and just had to use them. For this card I inked up the reindeer image from the Christmas Tea set. It's an outline image so I just colored it in with a black marker. Hope you're not tired of that plaid stamp from Martha Stewart, yet - I just love it - skies the limit with this one. I also stamped some polka dots on the black cs with black ink. I'ts hard to see on this picture, but it looks great in person!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: Flourishes (Christmas Tea), Verve (Ornamental Christmas), PTI (Polka Dot Basics)

Cardstock: CTMH (Black, Cranberry, Colonial White)

Inks: CTMH (Black, Garnet)

Accessories: CTMH (Cranberry grosgrain ribbon), black button

Christmas Wishes

Hi There! Sorry I'm a little inconsistent with the blog posts lately. I mentioned on an earlier post that I have a house guest for two weeks, so I've been busy playing hostess and entertainer. I've been missing my studio time, so I was determined to make it happen today. While I was shopping at Target today, I saw their new Christmas table decor, and was inspired to make a card. The red, gray and cream with snowflakes just reminded me of an old pair of warm woolen mittens/sweater. I knew I wanted to take this look and translate it to a card for the Moxie Fab World Old Country Christmas Challenge. I scoured through the various sketch challenges this week in the blog world, and ran across this fantastic Sweet Sunday sketch from The Sweetest Thing Blog. I knew this was perfect. As you can see, I reduced the sketch to make it an accent on my card base. I love doing this - it gives it a whole new look.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps: Verve(sentiment), all others from CTMH

Cardstock: CTMH (Grey Flannel, Colonial White, Tulip)

Inks: CTMH (Grey Wool, Tulip), Versamark

Accessories: PTI Vintage Button, Button Twine

Other: Marvy Snowflake Punch, Ivory Embossing Powder

So Thankful for You

What a challenge over at Just Us Girls this week! We are supposed to make a thank you card using pumpkin, rust and light blue. I love these colors together, but I had a hard time putting them together in a pleasing way. Here's my attempt:

I used CTMH's Goldrush, Autumn Terracotta and Crystal Blue. The blue is photographing a little aqua here, but IRL it's definately more blue. I also decided to use the sketch from Unscripted Sketches for the card. I LOVE this sketch, and will definately be using it again!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Background Basics: Diamonds and Vintage Picnic), CTMH (Damask Tiles), Verve (So Happy)

Cardstock: CTMH (White Daisy, Goldrush and Crystal Blue)

Inks: CTMH (Crystal Blue, Autumn Terracotta, Goldrush, Sweet Leaf and Black)

Accessories: PTI (Vintage Buttons, Button Twine)