Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - It's My Fave!

Hi everyone!  I cannot believe we are getting so close to ending our Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenges!  After today, we only have two more challenges!  I was looking through my box of cards I've done because of this challenge, and I breathed a sigh of relief!  I have so many cards done and I have some great packages to give as well! 

Today we are sponsored once again by Pink Cat Studios.  They have been so generous this year with their prizes and images for the CSAYL design team to work with...thanks so much PCS!  The winner of this week's challenge will receive 5 free digital images of their choice.

The challenge this week is "It's My Fave".  We are to use our favorite sketch challenge.  I chose Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  I use her sketches quite often and I love them.  I'm using her current sketch for my card today.

I chose Birds Make a Giant Cupcake from PCS.  I just realized that this really isn't a holiday image, but it looks good as one, doesn't it?  The paper is The Merry Days of Christmas from My Mind's Eye.  I just love this paper pack...so many pretty patterns in it!  The sentiment is from Holiday Button Bits from PTI and I cut it out using a nestie.  I finished the card, took the picture, and then thought the upper left corner of the image looked bare.  So I pulled out a bow die and red felt from PTI and added the bow and glitter dot.  Much better!

To see more inspiration, hop over to the CSAYL blog and see what the design team has created.  I hope to see you there!  Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Stamping' All Year Long - A Purple Challenge

Happy Friday!  We are at the beginning of a long weekend for the US and Canada!  What a lovely time of year!  And we are on the heels of the Christmas holidays, so here I am again with another Christmas card challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.

This week we are sponsored once again by Pink Cat Studios.  The challenge that we have for you is to use purple on your card.  I almost fell off my chair with this one because I don't do purple very often!  But I trudged on through and came up with one that I really like!

I searched my paper stash for something with the color purple and came across this paper from Pink Paislee Pop Fashion Collection.  Love the plaid and text superimposed on it.  SU's new in color Wisteria Wonder matched perfectly with the dp.  The sketch is this month's Sketch for You to Try.  I ran the small piece of Wisteria Wonder through the Swiss Dots folder, added the white satin ribbon, and a pearl flourish by Zva.  The sentiment is from PTI's Holiday Button Bits.  I stamped it and used a nestie to cut it out.  The image is colored with copics and shaded around the image with Vintage Photo distress ink.  There are some star dust stickles on the image too for some sparkle.

Think you don't know what to do with purple?  Then stop by the CSAYL blog for some inspiration.  If you play along, you could win 5 free digis!  Can't win if you don't play!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Fancy Schmancy Cards

Happy Friday! It's my last day off before I have to start getting up involuntarily at 5:30 am every day for school! Summer is over and it's getting closer to the holidays!  How are you getting on with your Christmas cards?  Why not start with this great challenge from Christmas Stampin' All Year Long? 

We are sponsored by Pink Cat Studio this week and the challenge is to make a fancy fold card....a card that is folded in any way other than a regular card.  I used Friendly Snowman and the Two Way Open card.  I found this tutorial a while ago on SCS and thought it was such a cool card.

I used this retired Christmas Cocoa paper from SU that I just love!  The brown and red are so beautiful together.  It coordinates with Soft Suede and Real Red cardstock.   I colored the image accordingly and then cut and embossed it with a nestie.  The smallest nestie was used for the sentiment.

 This is how it looks when you untie the ribbon.

And finally this is the inside.  See?  It opens Two Ways! 

The winner of this challenge will get 5 digis of their choice from Pink Cat Studio.  Stop by the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog to see what the other girls have done!  Also stop by our guest designer, Julie!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - "Gimme the Bird"

Pretty shocking title, huh?  Well, it's not as bad as it seems!  At Christmas Stampin' All Year Long this week, we are challenging you to use a bird on your Christmas card!  We are sponsored by Pink Cat Studio this week.  If you play along, you could win 5 free digi images from PCS! 

I've chosen the Christmas Chicks to use on my card!  It just made me smile when I saw these cheerful little chicks!

This is a digi image, so I was able to color it in GIMP.  Then I took a copic marker in a darker yellow and just hilighted the yellow a bit.  I sponged in some clouds and added Star Dust Stickles for some "snow".  The patterned paper is from an old DCWV Christmas Stack.  The satin ribbon is from Offray.  I made it into a double bow (free-handed) and added a button tied with floss.  I stamped a small sentiment on the bottom.

The sketch is from this week's Card Patterns.  I'm also entering this into the Buffalo Stamps and Stuff challenge Monday Idea Challenge to Mix It Up - mix different patterns and colors, which I think I've done here!                                         Stop by the CSAYL blog and see what the girls have done with their bird cards!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - She's Krafty

Happy Friday!  It's time for a new Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge.  This week, we are challenging you to use kraft paper somehow on your Christmas card/project.  We are sponsored once again this week by Pink Cat Studio.  I used the Lilly and Billy Winter Stamps set for my card.

I used kraft paper as my base and layered the green dp from Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses.  This adorable image was colored with copic markers and I added tons of stickles!  Love the shimmer!  I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

Stop by the CSAYL blog to see more inspiration from the DT.  If you play along, you'll have the opportunity to win 5 free digis from Pink Cat Studio!

We also have two guests joining us today...Fabiola and Joyce. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your weekend!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - A Little Something from Me to You

***I have another post today from My Time Made Easy...click here***

Today is Friday, so that means another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge. We are sponsored by Pink Cat Studios once again, and the challenge is to make a gift card holder. I went to the SCS resource section to look for a tutorial for one and found this Beanie Cap gift card holder tutorial. I remembered seeing these a few years ago and thought they were just so adorable, so I used it for this week's challenge. I followed the tutorial almost exactly, except I left off the pom-pom. I printed out a small version of the Polar Bear Present digital image and colored it with copic markers. This next picture reveals the gift card inside. And this gift card was actually a gift given to me this past Christmas from my best friend, Maria. It's a great spa...so serene and pretty too!

So what kind of gift card holder can you come up with? I can't wait to see so I can gather more ideas to package these very popular gifts! Stop by the CSAYL blog to see more inpiration from the DT as well as our guest designer this week, Lori.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

Thank goodness it's Friday! I've had a busy week and this weekend will be busy too with Mother's Day and all! But today I have another Christmas card for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long to share with an image from Pink Cat Studio.The challenge this week at CSAYL is to use a funny sentiment. Well, I forgot about that little part of the challenge and I don't think my sentiment is too funny, but the image I chose is too cute! This image is called Dog Elf in Present. I love dogs, so this one jumped out at me. It's colored with copic markers to match the patterned paper from SU (can't remember the name of it). My "unfunny" sentiment is from Little Moments by Paper Makeup Stamps.

I'm sure the design team at CSAYL followed directions and have funny sentiments on their cards! Stop by the CSAYL blog and see for yourself! If you decide to play, you will be eligible to win 5 free digis from Pink Cat Studio.

Thanks for stopping by! I have another post today, so I hope you take another peek!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Inside Outside

Happy Friday! I have two posts today so make sure you see both of them! ;-) The challenge this week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long is called Inside Outside, which means to decorate not only the inside of the card but also the inside.

We are sponsored once again by Pink Cat Studios. They have the cutest images! The one I chose this week is called Frogs Built a Snowman. My friend has a passion for all things frogs, so I chose this image with her in mind.I went untraditional, I know! I chucked when I colored the Santa hats orange! Oh well! It had to match my paper, right? Which I have forgotten the name of! I know it's by SU, however I forgot the name! I colored the image with copics and added some star dust stickles for that sparkle I love.

Now for the inside. All I did was use this digital sentiment from PCS and resized the snowman image to a tiny image in the corner. Love the simplicity! The sketch is from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge this week, but I flipped it (literally!). Stop by the CSAYL blog to see what the others have created. If you play, you have the chance to win 5 digis from Pink Cat Studio of you choice! Hope to see you playing! Thanks for stopping by and make sure you see my other post today!

Christmas Stamping All Year Long: How Much Bling Can You Bring?

Hi everyone! I've added another design team to my resume...I'm a member of the Christmas Stamping All Year Long team! I really wanted to be on this team because what better way to get those cards done? Plus, I'm working with some fabulous designers! You can see them on my sidebar. So every Friday from now until November 18, I'll be posting a Christmas card! I hope you join me in these challenges so you can get a head start on those holiday cards!Our first challenge is entitled How Much Bling Can You Bring and we are challenging you to use as much bling on your card as you like! We are sponsored by Pink Cat Studio this week. And the prize....one participant will receive 5 free digi images of their choice!My card uses the oh so cute Kissing Penguins digital image. Aren't they just so adorable? They are colored with copic markers and I added tons of star dust stickles to the hat and hood and the ground under them, but they didn't photograph well. I also added red stickles to the holly berries. The holly leaves were popped up for some dimension. More bling can be found on the red glitter dots...love those things! The papers are from SU's retired Holiday Treasures and Basic Grey's Jovial. The sketch is from this week's Our Creative Corner.

Here's how the challenges will work: Create a new project and link it to the challenge post on the CSAYL blog. Add a direct link to your creation on the CSAYL blog. Stop by 2-3 other challenge entries and leave them a comment...everyone loves a comment! On Thursday afternoon, the top ten entries will be posted as well as the winner!

I can't wait to see what you all create! Good luck with starting on your holiday cards, and thanks for stopping by today!

Just Us Girls #46 - Wild Wild West!

Hi JUGs fans! Today we have a very special challenge for you. It's technique week, so we've chosen a "theme" instead of a technique. We are challenging you to make a card/project with the Wild Wild West theme. Why, you ask? Well our fellow DT member, Alicia Weiman, is hosting a rodeo in the memory of her son, Ethan, who passed away last year from neuroblastoma cancer, and her family is doing this rodeo as a fundraiser for research for a cure. Ethan was a little cowboy, hence the rodeo. Here is a link to Ethan's Rodeo for more information. (I found that you can donate tickets if you can't attend the rodeo...they only cost $10 and for each ticket you purchase, one will be donated to a child with cancer or an accompanying adult. I just bought two!)

I used a digi image that was created as a charity stamp in Ethan's honor for my card. I just love this image, and I made it a birthday card for my nephew, also Ethan, who will be 6 years old this month. I used the SU western paper (retired and I don't remember the name right now) as my starting point along with the current Mojo Monday sketch. He's colored with the new technique I learned last week at a class at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff. I colored him with copics, then went over it a bit with prisma pencils and gamasol. It adds a richness and smooths out the lines from the copics. (It works great on reds...I have such trouble blending the reds!) The sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps set called Birthday Cheer. Here is what the inside looks like.

I think the sentiment is from Wordsworth. I've had it for years and it sort of fit with the theme.

Here are links to the digi stamps that were created by Pink Cat Studios: Cowboy Billy, Cowboy Lilly, and Sweet Pea Cowpoke.

JUGs is welcoming the fabulous Theresa Momber as a special guest designer this week. She has generously donated one of her sets from Gina K Designs called Out West to one lucky winner, too! Thanks Theresa!

Wow! Lots of information here...but all good stuff! Check out the JUGs blog for more information and inspiration from the JUGS DT, Guest Designer Jo Westfoot, and Special Guest Theresa Momber! Yeehaw! (I had to do that!)

Also, I want to wish one of our fabulous DT coordinators, Pam Imholz, a very Happy Birthday on Monday! She does so much to make our challenges run smoothly and is a great person! So I made this card for last week's JUGs sketch challenge just for her (and kept it a secret, but forgot to send it...whoops! It'll be in the mail today!) Happy Birthday Pam! Enjoy your day!

You can see the details of this Paper Makeup Stamps card here. Thanks for stopping by!

The Weiman Wranglers

Hello all! This is going to be a bittersweet post, but I want to tell you that I have another post today for the PMS Monday Challenge, so please scroll down to see that post!

My post last Monday (here) contained some sad news about a little boy, Ethan Weiman, who went to live with the angels on June 12. He had neuroblastoma cancer and suffered with it for the past two years (he was almost 5 years old at his passing). His mom, Alicia, is on our My Time DT and we were so saddened my this news. Lauren Meader was especially touched by this because she has a daughter who also had cancer, but survived it and is now 10 years old. Lauren is on the DT for Pink Cat Studio and asked the owner, Melissa, to create a digital image of Ethan to be sold as a charity stamp. Well, Melissa went above and beyond that and created one of Ethan and another of his little sister Ava along with some sentiments. Ethan was a little cowboy and loved to ride horses. He always wore a black cowboy hat and loved balloons. Here is what Melissa created in digital images.

Aren't they adorable? They are priced very reasonably too. Either Ethan or Ava are priced at $4.00 and each will come with the two sentiments. If you buy the entire set, it will only by $6.00. All proceeds are going to the Make a Wish Foundation of Illinois per the Weiman family. You can read more about this on Melissa's blog here. Also, Lauren is sponsoring a contest. All you have to do is make something using these images, link them to her blog here and you have the chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Pink Cat Studio! How cool is that?

Melissa was so kind as to give the My Time DT these images to work with and promote them. You can see all of them here and here is my version. Cute, huh? What a nice way to honor Ethan! I colored the image with copic markers, and cut and embossed it with nesties. I placed an embellishment on his belt buckle. The rust layer behind that was run through the paisley cuttlebug folder. The dp is SU's retired Outlaw (perfect for a cowboy card) and the ribbon is SU's chocolate chip grosgrain. The sentiment was cut and embossed with a nestied as well as the rust layer. Really cute and simple card, but I love it and the idea behind it. Like I said....bittersweet. Here are links to the DT so you can see what they came up with.

Dana
Dawn
Jennifer
Kendra
Kristin
Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Odette
Pam
Tamara
Tracey

I hope you like the images as much as well all do, and I hope you can find it in your budget to purchase them. Please let me know if you post any cards using this and I will do my best to showcase it on my blog. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading this post! I really appreciate all your comments!
Recipe
Stamps: Cowboy Ethan and sentiment digital images (Pink Cat Studio)
Paper: PTI white, really rust, chocolate chip, Outlaw dp (SU retired)
Copic Markers: Y17; YR24; R20; E00, 02, 53, 97, 99; Gooo, 00, 85; W-3, 7
Accessories: Nesties, paisley cuttlebug folder, grosgrain ribbon, embellishment for belt, dimensionals