introducing card kits

Yes, I am going to provide a card kit every month for you to enjoy! Since I don't haul my craft room around to workshops, I thought I'd do virtual workshops and give you the opportunity to purchase items I feature at discounted prices. Each month I'll create 2 cards that will feature a stamp set and embellishments - those featured items will be offered to you at a 20% discount if you purchase a kit. Each kit will make 10 cards and includes all the consumable products you'll need to make the cards, including envelopes.

So now, here is January's Card Kit - of course I had to use the set I've been loving on so much this past week, A Happy Heart. You are going to absolutely fall in love with this set. This kit includes supplies to make 5 of each card. Here are all the details...


How much? $18 and that cost includes shipping.
Due date? Please pay for your kit by January 17th. So sorry about the short notice this month - some of these items are retiring on January 18th!
Featured products?
A Happy Heart stamp set ($22.95) $18.36 with the purchase of the Card Kit

Hearts Set Sizzlits Die 4-Pack ($19.95) $15.96 with the purchase of the Card Kit

Kit includes the following:

• 5 Pieces of Close to Cocoa cardstock (5-1/2 x 7-3/4)
• 5 Pieces of Regal Rose cardstock (2-3/8 x 2-3/8)
• 5 Pieces of Pretty in Pink cardstock (2-1/4 x 2-1/4)
• 5 Pieces of Whisper White cardstock (2-1/8 x 2-1/8)
• 5 Pieces of Banbury Designer Series Paper (5-1/2 x 1-1/2)
• 5 Pieces of Bashful Blue cardstock (5-1/2 x 8-1/2)
• 5 Pieces of Ruby Red cardstock (3 x 3)
• 5 Pieces of Banbury Designer Series Paper (4-1/4 x 1-3/4)
• 5 Pewter Build-A-Brads
• 5 pieces of Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon (19")
• 5 large Filigree flowers
• 5 silver brads
• 5 pieces of Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon (16")

What you will need at home:

• Close to Cocoa Classic Ink - $5.25
• Regal Rose Classic Ink - $5.25
• Chocolate Chip Classic Ink - $5.25
• Versamark Ink - $7.50
• Corner Rounder - $6.95
• 1/2" Circle Punch - $5.95
• White Embossing Powder - $4.75
• Paper-Piercing Tool - included in the Crafter's Tool Kit $39.95
• Stampin' Dimensionals - $3.95
• SNAIL Adhesive - $6.95
• A Happy Heart stamp set - $22.95 ($18.36 with the purchase of the Card Kit)
• Hearts Set Sizzlits Die 4-Pack - $19.95 ($15.96 with the purchase of the Card Kit)

Again, please purchase your kit by January 17th and I will mail your kit by January 31st. I will also email you step-by-step instructions along with pictures of the completed cards.

Interested? E-MAIL ME to place your order today! This offer is for readers in the US only - I apologize to those readers who live abroad, however I do need to follow the demonstrator guidelines Stampin' Up! has set up.

color inspiration 36

It's another fantastic color challenge from Kristina and it's very Valentine's-y colors too, but I'm taking a break from hearts just for a moment. I have a bunch of January birthdays coming up soon, so I thought I'd make a card for a friend, who I hope likes pink, ha! This week's colors are Rose Red, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, and Whisper White - and isn't that little pin cusion too cute?

Stay tuned! I have somthing fun to share with you in just a few moments....

Karen

recipe -
paper: pretty in pink, whisper white cardstock, berry bliss dsp (retired)
accessories: pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon, flower fusion accents & elements, soft subtles brads, love & happiness rub ons (retired), stampin' dimensionals

wishing you a happy heart

Are you tired of this set yet? I think this may be the last one from this set for now, but more ideas are flowing! I love the diversity of it and that is why I've been using it so much these past few days. For this card I used the 3/4" circle punch to accent the top of the dandelion - it fits perfectly! I really like the hearts floating away - just so cute. It reminds me of this mug I saw at Starbucks last year. Alright, I had better move on to another stamp set here, so stay tuned - I'll try to do something non-valentine's here soon. Have a wonderful day!

Karen


recipe -
stamps: a happy heart
ink: purely pomegranate, close to cocoa
paper: close to cocoa, purely pomegranate, whisper white cardstock, berry bliss dsp (retired)
accessories: purely pomegranate double stitched grosgrain ribbon (retired), 3/4" circle punch, stampin dimensionals

i {heart} you

Here's another card using my shiny new A Happy Heart set - this senitment is so cute, don't you think? I used sketch 205 over at Splitcoaststampers for this little number. Again, I'm using retired designer paper, Berry Bliss this time - I am in serious need of getting rid of all of my retired paper! Hmmm, can you say blog candy? Stay tuned....

Karen

recipe -

stamps: a happy heart

ink: purely pomegranate

paper: close to cocoa, pretty in pink, purely pomegranate cardstock, berry bliss dsp (retired)

accessories: chocolate chip & pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon, hearts sizzlits, curly label punch, stampin' dimensionals

and on to valentines day...

Well, we still have one more round of Christmas coming on New Year's Day so I can't say I'm completely done with Christmas, but my mind is already moving on to the next holiday - Valentine's Day, yes! You may get a little bombarded here the next few posts, but I'll try and switch it up for you - I'm trying to get some cards in my Etsy store in time for Valentine's Day. Anyway... today I thought I'd give Taylor's Cupcake Challenge a try and ink up my new A Happy Heart set all at the same time. I am loving this set! There are so many cute stamps in it.

Have a wonderful day!
Karen

recipe -

stamps: a happy heart

ink: regal rose, tempting turquoise

paper: pretty in pink, close to cocoa, tempting turquoise, whisper white cardstock, loves me dsp (retired)

accessories: clear buttons, stampin' dimensionals

fight on you stalwart ram team...

on to the goal!! Ok, sorry - it's part of the Colorado State fight song. Michael and I got an all expense paid trip to the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday and a big THANKS to Michael's uncle, who hooked us up with free VIP tickets to the ESPN tent before the game for some free food and drinks and then our seats were on the 50 yard line in the club level, so again free food and drinks. It was an incredible day and to top it off the Rams won in a very exciting game. Michael was a very happy Ram that day. We were gone all weekend and had a fantastic time - the kids were amazing on both of the 9 hour car trips there and back, so that was fantastic!! This is the only picture I have of the day because my camera batteries died right after this was taken, that figures.



I'll try to post something before Christmas day - got some sketches to catch up on!

Karen

more new toys

New stamps!! Finally, I have some new stamps to get dirty - today I got to play with Season of Simple Grace. I love this set and have been eyeballing it since the Holiday Mini catalog came out a couple months ago. The card sketch comes from Julee's Mojo Monday sketch this week and works perfectly with this image. I added some diamond Stickles over the star to give it some sparkle and make it stand out a little bit and I used black embossing powder for the sentiment at the bottom. I was impressed the letters didn't get all jumbled together when I melted the powder! The patterned paper is retired and I don't know the name of it, so sorry.

Thanks so much for stopping by -

Karen

recipe -

stamps: season of simple grace

ink: so saffron, bordering blue, versamark

paper: bordering blue, basic black, whisper white cardstock, retired dsp

accessories: old olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" circle punch, vintage brads, diamond stickles, black embossing powder, stampin' dimensionals

color inspiration 35

Ok, so it's become very sad that the last couple posts have been for Kristina's color inspirations and hey, here's another one, ha! I DO need to find more time to stamp so I can post more for you. The good news is I'm DONE shopping for Christmas, so I don't need to worry about going out in the morning for that anymore. Thank goodness because it's a balmy -4 as I'm typing this. Nothing like walking out into cold weather that makes your lungs hurt! To be fair, it is 10 PM, so it's not like it's -4 at noon, but it didn't get past 5 today, so that's still stinkin' COLD!

Mr. Brown battled the snow-packed streets and delivered my new toys today, yeah baby! I ordered some of the new Big Shot die cuts and had to use the Flower Layers die for my card today. I have a Cuttlebug and wanted to see if the Sizzix dies would work with it and they do!! I had to sandwich the Flower Layers die in between two B cutting plates for it to work and I'm not entirely sure it is good for the plates, but it worked. So until I can save my pennies next quarter for the Big Shot machine, this will do. The other dies work wonderfully though. I also got some fun new stamp sets and I have a new card for you tomorrow - oooh, teaser! Yes, I really will post at least twice this week - hehe.

Man, I'm chatty today! Kristina's challenge this week is Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze (I don't have it so I used Sage Shadow since she mentioned 'minty green' in her post), So Saffron, and Very Vanilla. It was a fun challenge, so go check out the other entries and give it a try.

Have a fantastic day!
Karen

recipe -

paper: chocolate chip, sage shadow, so saffron, very vanilla cardstock, autumn vine dsp

accessories: close to cocoa grosgrain ribbon, love and happiness rub-ons (retired), flower layers sizzix die cut template

color inspiration 34

Hello -it's been a looong time! Life has been so busy and time consuming these past couple weeks and with Christmas right around the corner, I don't see it slowing down. I will try my best to post though! Today I have my little creation for Kristina's color inspiration. Her colors remind me of frosty cold days (which we've had many!), but I don't have any snowman stamps - say what? I don't know how that happened because you should see all the little snowmen I have in my house at the moment. This week's colors are Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Bordering Blue, Sage Shadow and Certainly Celery - so fun together!

Ok, I'm off to shop and battle the crowds. Have a fantastic day!
Karen

recipe -

stamps: party hearty, twinkle wheel

ink: bordering blue, certainly celery, perfect plum

paper: pale plum, perfect plum, bordering blue, whisper white cardstock, autumn vine dsp

accessories: white tafeta ribbon, circle scallop punch, stampin' dimensionals

business boost

Yes, I am in serious need of a business boost and so now I am just shamefully promoting it here on my blog, ha! Seriously though, I absolutely LOVE Stampin' Up! products and use them almost exclusively, however it's getting more and more difficult to remain a hobby demonstrator (I usually only stay active by purchasing items for myself or holding occasional classes in my home) and since Stampin' Up! has so graciously added an online store, I thought I would use my demonstrator website to see if anyone out there would be interested in shopping through my website. This is the ONLY time I'll be mentioning it in my blog posts. From now on I'll be displaying promotions and specials in my blog margins. I know many of you come to my blog for inspiration and ideas, not to be hit up to buy things, and I respect that.

So, with all that being said, here is the link to my website www.karengiron.stampinup.net. You can go to the online store by clicking on the 'Shop Now' button in the top right corner.

I would love to see if I can give discounts online, but I'm not intirely sure that is possible or legal, so I'll check it out and post information in the margins later. This is all so new to me, so please excuse the bumps along the way and feel free to email me if something isn't working correctly.

PLEASE NOTE: if you are currently purchasing merchandise from another Stampin' Up! demonstrator, please stay loyal to her/him. I am in no way wanting to steal customers.

Okay - I'll get to stamping and hopefully be able to post something for you later this afternoon.

Karen

color inspiration 33

Ok, this card had a whole different look in my head and THEN when I added the white rub-on my heart just went, NOOO! Ugh, the rub-on is so blurry! So, this is what I have now - cute little flowers and fantastic ribbon with a blurry image. blah! Do not buy cheap rub-ons, k? I think these are a pack of Making Memories Card Sayings rub-ons, just in case you'd like to avoid them. hehe. Hopefully I just got a bad pack and they aren't usually like this. Anyway, Kristina has a tough color challenge this week: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Taken With Teal and Whisper White. Now I'm off to see the other entries - everyone always has such great work so go check them out when you get a chance. It's snowing here today, so please excuse the once again blurry photo. Seriously trying to find the deal of the century on a nice camera!!

Have a wonderful day!
Karen

recipe -

stamps: polka dot background

ink: versamark

paper: whisper white, chocolate chip, taken with teal cardstock

accessories: flower punch (ek success), felt fusion flowers, antique brads, celery grosgrain ribbon, chocolate chip double stitched 1" grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder

featured cupcake sampler

YES! Can you believe it? I'm the Featured Cupcake Sampler over at Taylor's blog this week!! My jaw hit the floor when she emailed me the good news and I went right to work on making my sample. I have had my Dashing designer paper on my desk all week so it seemed like a good choice to run with and went with a Christmas theme - sorry, no cupcakes this week. You can see more fantastic samples of this sketch over at Taylor's blog too.

I apologize for the photo - I took about 40 pictures and all of them were blury somewhere and it the sun didn't want to peek out of the clouds, so it's a bit dark. Anyway, one of these days I'll get a better camera - mine is a cheap point and shoot and I'm about ready to throw it out the window, ha!

Now how many of you are hitting the sales today and have been up since 5 AM to do so?? Yeah, not me, but I really have admiration for all of you that hit the stores and battle the crowds to get those amazing deals. Me? I sleep in (or as much as I can with 3 little ones anyway) and stay in my jammies until lunch. Pure laziness for me, that's how I roll!

Edited: The card dimensions are 4-1/4 square and I usually will mail this size in a regular A2 envelope (fits a standard 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 card) to avoid paying extra postage for a square envelope.

Have a fantastic Friday!
Karen

recipe -

stamps: season of joy, short & sweet

ink: real red, old olive

paper: very vanilla, real red, river rock, old olive cardstock, dashing dsp

accessories: old olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, mini twinkle dots (a.muse), fire circle rhinestone brads, circle nestibilities die templates, stampin dimensionals

color inspiration 32

Hello everyone! Kristina is back with a very warm, yummy color inspiration. This week's colors are Riding Hood Red, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla and Whisper White. Since I don't have the new In-Colors, I opted to use Real Red instead of Riding Hood Red. The red background is embossed with clear embossing powder to give it some dimension and shine - I love that look. I guess this would be a retro card since I'm using retired paper and hardware, eh? The striped paper is from Dashing, which retired last January. Love that paper!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and I'll be back Friday with a fun new card to share.

Karen

recipe -

stamps: season of joy, best yet (hostess)

ink: versamark. real red

paper: very vanilla, real red, sahara sand, and whisper white cardstock, dashing dsp

accessories: real red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder, curly label punch, oval punch, aged copper hodgepodge hardware, stampin dimensionals

a cupcake with a challenge

Yes! I finally have a cupcake stamp to use with Taylor's cupcake challenge AND I finished the card this time - double good Friday, yes indeed. I was looking through some old supplies and I found this fun paper in my Party Pieces Simply Scrappin' kit from a couple catalogs ago. I had completely forgotten about it and I have a ton of die cuts left in it. I was going to place the cupcake directly to the patterned paper, but it got lost in all those circles, so I added a little plain background for it. Much better! I also added a little dab of diamond Stickles on the candle flame to make it stand out a bit more and add some fun sparkle.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Karen

recipe -

stamps: party hearty

ink: pumpkin pie, tempting turquiose, old olive, apricot appeal

paper: tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie, apricot appeal cardstock, party pieces simply scrappin' kit

accessories: ice circle rhinestone brads, apricot grosgrain ribbon, 1" and 3/4" circle punches, circle nestibilities die template, stampin' dimensionals

it's beginning to look alot like...

Christmas! Except it is almost 70 degrees here today - love that! I was surfing radio channels this morning and found Christmas music already. As much as I love Christmas music, it's just too early yet; let me get past Thanksgiving first people!

I've had this sketch from Verve earmarked for a while now and I'm finally getting to it. It's so simple yet has the pop I like too. Do you recognize the tree? No? It's a party hat from the Party Hearty set and I just added my own tree trunk at the bottom - add some micro twinkle dots, and voila - a sparkly tree! I really do need to get some better Christmas sets, I have very few. Too bad Stampin' Up! doesn't have the same 80% off sales the department stores do after Christmas...

Edited: A few of you have asked how I got the layered curly label. When you purchase the curly label punch kit it comes with a stamp set. If you trim around the stamped image it will be small enough to layer over the regular curly label punch, giving you that finished look.

Thanks for hopping by today -

Karen

recipe -

stamps: party hearty, cute & curly, all holidays

ink: old olive, close to cocoa, real red

paper: very vanilla, real red cardstock, dashing dsp (retired)

accessories: curly label punch, micro twinkle dots (a.muse), old olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, stampin' dimensionals

autumn flowers

Well, I don't have mums, but we'll just pretend that these are - ha! Kristina is back with another color challenge inspired from a wreath she has. This week's colors are Close to Cocoa, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Whisper White. Love the fall feel of these colors. The card size is weird - it's 3-1/4 x 5-1/2, but the 3-1/4 x 6-1/2 size looked a bit odd, so I trimmed it down. I also was able to use a new Nestibilities die template that I picked up from Hobby Lobby a little while ago - Tags! Sweet!

Have a great day!

Karen

recipe -

stamps: pocket silhouettes

ink: so saffron, elegant eggplant

paper: elegant eggplant, so saffron, whisper white cardstock, pumpkin pie patterns dsp

accessories: vintage brads, close to cocoa grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch,

another monday

Happy Monday everyone - is anyone else easing into your week? Seems to be how I am every Monday, but maybe that's just because it's laundry day. blech... So here's something cute and crafty from Beate's weekend sketch challenge to get you out of the Monday blahs - hehe! Last Thursday we had a family picture taken and I can't believe how smoothly it went -who would have ever thought that a 1 and 2-year-old would sit still long enough to get some great pictures? Now we have a fantastic picture to display in our home - sweet success! Anyway - I still have the light blue/navy blue color combo in my head, so I went with it for my card today. Also, WAY back in the very beginning of my blog I used Katie's dress as an inspiration challenge and here she is wearing it - love that dress! The card is 4-1/4 square and I had clear embossed the background a long time ago, but never used it and tucked it away to use later - makes for a quick card today.

See you back soon!
Karen

recipe -
stamps: nursery necessities, nursery letters jumbo wheel
ink: so saffron, bashful blue, versamark
paper: night of navy, bashful blue, wild wasabi, whisper white cardstock, jersey shore dsp
accessories: clear embossing powder, star brads, stampin dimensionals

color inspiration 30

Hello!  I hope you all have been doing well - it's been forever since I've last posted!!  Today I have a card for Kristina's color inspiration and this week's colors are Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White.  I love the monochromatic feel of these colors - the Olive and Celery together are very soothing.  I went with a 6-1/2" x 3-1/4" card today to shake it up a bit.  I love this card size! 

I hope you are all have a great week and I'll see you back soon.  We have family pictures tomorrow, so I'm off to hunt down those last minute items, like shoes for my 6-year-old that aren't all scuffed up!  Have a great day.

Karen

recipe -
stamps: short & sweet, cute & curly
ink:  old olive
paper:  certainly celery, sahara sand, whisper white cardstock, olive dsp (retired)
accessories:  filigree brads, curly label punch, scallop edge punch, old olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

say what???

Alright, this color inspiration was soooo difficult for me!  I can't figure out what it is, but I had a hard time putting these colors together.  Kristina's challenge was to use Pacific Point, Taken With Teal, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, and Whisper White.  Huh?  Ok, so I don't have Pacific Point, so that may be some of the problem - I used Brilliant Blue instead, yowza! 

Ok, well better get to some housework - oh the joys!  See you back soon.

Karen

recipe -
stamps: live like you mean it (hostess)
ink: briliant blue, elegant eggplant, taken with teal
paper: pumpkin pie, elegant eggplant, whisper white cardstock, pumpkin pie patterns dsp
accessories: pumpkin pie striped grosgrain ribbon, rectangle/scallop nestibilities, clementine bling (heidi swapp)

another christmas card possibility

Hello! I hope you all had a great weekend - we enjoyed a very warm weekend and a lazy Sunday full of football watching. Although I can't say the Broncos actually played football this week - can they stink it up any more?? Any annoyed fans out there? Steph? Anyway...

Today's card is Beate's weekend sketch challenge, Christmas style. It's another sample I made for a family member who I'm making cards for this year. I figure the rejects will be used by me, ha! The background is stamped in Bashful Blue with the Bold Snowflakes jumbo wheel and the patterned paper is from a mini 2 Holiday Minis ago.

This second card is a CASE of one of Natasha's cards I saw on the Clean & Simple blog this morning - it was so cute, I had to copy it!! Just sweet and simple - so jump on in and use this layout to mass produce your cards this season. It's a quick one!

Thanks for stopping by! See you back soon.
Karen

recipe card #1

stamps: season of joy, short & sweet
ink: cranberry crisp (in color '07), old olive, bashful blue
paper: bashful blue, cranberry crisp cardstock, holiday mini '06 dsp

accessories: old olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, rectangle scallop nestibilities, circle/scallop nestibilities, diamond stickles, stampin' dimensionals

recipe card #2
stamps: city of david, best yet
ink: cranberry crisp (in color '07), chocolate chip
paper: kraft, old olive, cranberry crisp, confetti cream cardstock

happy halloween

Happy Halloween from bright, sunshiny Colorado. I don't know when it was the last time we had almost 80 degree weather here on Halloween. Usually it's bright and sunny until the day before Halloween and then BAM - it snows for the big day.

So we took advantage of the warm weather and had a full day of candy-grabbing fun. Poor Andrew and Katie were sweating in their warm fuzzy costumes, but Avery had it right with her Minnie Mouse once the morning warmed up.

Thanks for letting me show off my little monkeys - we had a fantastic day!

Avery & Andrew

Andrew Dino

Katie Sunflower

Karen

live, laugh & love

Ok, now I'm getting back into the swing of things - 3 posts in 3 days! Don't fall over from shock now. I think this is the first inpiration challenge from Beate I've participated in - I loved the comforter with the bed, so that's what I chose to mimic. I stamped the Linen background onto kraft paper for the wicker look and then went to town stamping the background. My first thought was to use Pocket Silhouettes, but then I really just wanted to do leaves and flowers separate, so I opted for the flower and leaves in Season of Friendship instead. The sentiment is from It's All Good (which has discovered new life!).

That's all for now - thanks for visiting!
Karen

recipe -
stamps: season of friendship, it's all good, linen background
ink: brocade blue, old olive
paper: kraft, old olive, whisper white carstock
accessories: blue grosgrain ribbon, square scallop punch, stampin dimensionals

color inspiration 28

This week's color challenge from Kristina is Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Sage Shadow (which is making quite the comeback!) and Whisper White. She always finds the greatest colors, so that keeps me from using pink and brown all the time, ha! Go over and check out her blog if you haven't had a chance - she's an amazing artist and you won't be disappointed.
This card was pretty quick to make - the scallop edge punch is a lifesaver! No more tedious punching with the corner rounder to make a scallop edge - yay! The sentiment was heat embossed with white embossing powder to make it show up brighter on the darker paper.

Have a fantastic Wednesday and I'll see you back here tomorrow afternoon.

Karen

recipe -
stamps: absolutely fabulous
ink: versamark
paper: ruby red, sage shadow cardstock, pumpkin pie patterns dsp, autumn vine dsp
accessories: filigree brads, fire rhinestone brads, flower fusion, scallop punch, scallop edge punch, white embossing powder, pumpkin pie striped grosgrain ribbon

mojo monday challenge

Happy Tuesday and I'm so happy to be back stamping. It's been forever! A week?? Bad blogger! BAD blogger!!

Today's card is inspired by Julee's mojo Monday challenge and thought a little baby card would be cute with it. I think the card still needs something, but I just can't figure it out. AND, check it out - another bow that turned out nicely! woohoo!

Still hoping to get that 4-hour jam session in! I'll see you back soon

-Karen

recipe -

stamps: by ones & by twos, short & sweet

ink: black staz-on

paper: certainly celery, pretty in pink, whisper white cardstock, banbury dsp

accessories: celery grosgrain ribbon, filigree brads, fire rhinestone brads, micro twinkle dots (a.muse), 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, scallop punch, flower punch (ek success), rectangle/scallop nestibilities, stampin' dimensionals

long time, no stamp!

Seems like I get a slow start to every week. I have every intension of stamping every day, but life doesn't quite cooperate most days. I just need a 4 hour jam session and I'll be golden!! Today's card comes from Julee's Mojo Monday sketch and I thought I'd break out the Christmas sets since it's all cold and gloomy outside. Snow is right around the corner.

That's it for today - short and sweet. I'm off to make myself some cocoa. See you back soon!

Karen

recipe -

stamps: season of joy, cute & curly, bold snowflakes jumbo wheel

ink: wild wasabi, bashful blue, versamark

paper: bashful blue, wild wasabi, real red, whisper white cardstock, all the trimmings simply scrappin' kit

accessories: mini/micro twinkle dots (a.muse), star eyelets, bashful blue grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, curly label punch, white embossing powder, stampin dimensionals

color inspiration 26

Hello! Happy Thursday to you all - I'm just loving this fall weather we've been having and our little tree in front is finally turning red this autumn instead of just dropping the leaves. I think it's finally out of transplant shock, ha!

Kristina Werner has another fantastic color challenge this week and since I'm loving fall, I thought I'd make a spring card. Yes, I'm weird. Actually, it is a dear friend's birthday today and she's definitely a flower kind of girl, so I thought this would be fun for her. The colors this week are Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Rose Red, So Saffron, and Whisper White. Now I'm off to check out all the other entries for the challenge - so much eye candy out there!!

See you back soon -

Karen

recipe -

stamps: on your birthday

ink: versamark

paper: wild wasabi, so saffron, rose red cardstock, jersey shore dsp

accessories: white embossing powder, flower punch (ek success), bashful blue brads & double stitched grosgrain ribbon.

there for you

I made this card for a friend who is taking her 1-year-old daughter across the country to have spinal surgery in November and she's fought hard for her daughter to get what she needs, so our MOPS group has rallied around her and helped her out and we just wanted her to know we are praying for her when she's so far away from friends and family.  I used Photoshop Elements to make the sentiment - fonts are AL Charisma and Futura LT.  If this card seems familiar it is because I used the sketch before (makes it easy to create a quick card!)

Have a great day!
Karen

recipe -
paper: bashful blue, whisper white cardstock, maine blueberry dsp
accessories: old olive wide grosgrain ribbon, vintage brads, horizontal slit punch, stampin dimensionals
fonts: al charisma, futura lt

blue christmas

Yikes, has it really been since Thursday since I've posted?! Today I have a 10-minute card for you - gotta love patterned paper and the stampin' around wheels! I just love the look of craft ink on kraft paper and I thought I'd try it with a Christmas card this go 'round. I don't have a craft ink cartridge for my weel, so I just inked it on a craft pad - cards are small enough for the wheel to go around less than one time, so no need to re-ink. The card is way cuter in real life - I really need to work on my photo skills!

That's it for today - I need to have a late night stamping session to get caught up! See you back soon.

Karen

recipe -

stamps: bold snowflakes jumbo wheel, all holidays

ink: bashful blue craft ink, night of navy classic ink

paper: kraft, bashful blue cardstock, retired su dsp (sorry, can't remember the name, but it was in an '06 mini

accessories: bashful blue & white grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch

color inspiration 25

This week's color inspiration over at KWernerDesign is once again, great! Ballet Blue, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, and Ruby Red - aren't these colors so much fun for kids' quilts? Might have to rethink the colors in Andrew's room...
For the clouds in the sky I used my scallop punch and then sponged around the edges on whisper white cardstock to create the layered look. The waves were made with the inverse cut from my rectangle scallop Nestibilities die. The background is the Nursery Letters jumbo wheel.

Thanks so much for swinging by - see you back soon!
Karen

recipe -
stamps: nursery necessities, nursery letters jumbo wheel
ink: so saffron, certainly celery, ballet blue, ruby red

paper: so saffron, ruby red, ballet blue, whisper white cardstock

accessories: scallop punch, rectangle scallop nestibilities die, celery grosgrain ribbon, sponge daubers, stampin' dimensionals