Thank You

So long 2013...glad to see you go!

Welcome 2014, may this year be a great one for all!

I am starting to work on my thank you cards for Christmas.  I have one to share tonight.

I used 3 punches and 2 dies!  For a simple card, I think this is a record for me!

Basic Grey dp/DCWV cs

Stampin' Up! sentiment punches

MFT fishtail and round dies

Martha Stewart bird punch

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Challenges for Everybody - anything goes

HobbyCutz - anything goes

Pile it On - p is for "punches"

The Squirrel and the Fox - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by!

kathy b

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!

Mandala in a shadow box

Hi everyone,
Today I have an untraditional post as follows the theme of an "anything but a card challenge"with Craft My Life.  I've been working on a mandala to give as a Christmas present (yes I know it's late).  This person is an artist and sent me a watercolor painting for our home, for which I am thrilled about.  Kathy and I used to make lots of mandalas from Outlines, the stamp store that is no longer.  :(  However, Holly Berry stamps (still around) makes wonderful mandala stamps, though much more detailed and harder to work with than the Outlines.  However, once you make them they are stunning…  So this is what I used…a Holly Berry stamp, stamped numerous times, embossed with Ranger embossing powder in silver, and cut out at different levels, layered one on top of the other with foam tape and embellished with Stickles and Swarovski Crystal Stamps.  The photos show the finished product from the top and side.  Then I mounted it in a shadow box.  Actually once you put in a shadow box, it looks extra sparkly. However, this really doesn't come through in the photo.  I think it's because I didn't photograph it in the light which usually adds sparkle.

However, hope you enjoy and are inspired to tackle a difficult project this week.  The detailed work is actually very relaxing (especially if you're watching a movie in the meantime!)

Thanks for stopping by in these last couple of days of 2013.  Margaret

Santa Paws

Oh, Christmas is over and I hate to have to put up my tree.

We were late getting it up this year, so maybe I will wait til next weekend to take it down ;-)

Tonight I made a very quick gift card holder.  I was inspired by the Designers Choice Challenge1218 at The House that Cards Built.

I used some really cute old SEI dp called "Park Buddies".  It's double-sided, which works great for this cardholder design.  I stamped the dog house image (Craft Lounge) with Memento, colored it with Copics, fussy cut it and then used 3M foam tape to mount it.  I stamped the sentiment (Memory Box) with COlorBox fluid chalk Warm Red and mounted it with foam tape on the doghouse.  Tied a ribbon around it and ta da, done!  Aren't gift cards great???Here's a picture of the inside:

(I blocked the vendor)

I am also entering the following challenges:

Happy Campers - Christmas

Just Add Ink - Christmas

Stampin' with the Dragon - Last minute Christmas

Wags n ' Whiskers - Christmas

MilkCoffee - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!

kathy b

Wintry wishes

Hello everyone,
I had a great time creating today.  I used one of my new presents--the Spellbinders edgers that Kathy got me for Christmas.  I LOVE them, although they do work better on a magnetic platform (which I also used my new one for the first time).

I absolutely LOVE this Penny Black wintry fairy stamp.  I love fairy stamps in general, but this one really spoke to me.  They're so fun to color and they're SO cute.

Loving relaxing today.  Hope you had a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.

I will be sharing this card with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge: Christmas

Details:
Image: Penny Black
Paper: Jillibean Soup
Edge: Spellbinders
Other: Stickles, Glaze

Winter romance

Hello everyone,
Today I'm here with a post of Julia's Christmas card.  Her request of me this year was to have a scene and she wanted it to "outdo Miss Kathy's and Peter's cards".  That was a tall order…I'm not sure I accomplished that, but she was certainly happy with the result. :)  I actually tried something new…I tried my hand at painting…but it was just the teal outbursts coming out from around the template cut.  I think it turned out OK.  This is a Northwoods stamp and it certainly was a bit intimidating to tackle!  The card is quite sparkly…though it's hard to see in the photo so I'm including a closeup.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
A creative romance: Sparkle at Christmas Challenge
Brown Sugar Challenge: #74 Winter

Hope you are all enjoying the last several days of 2013.  With the way the times are today, I don't know whether I'm excited about 2014…or anxious about the unknown…  Oh boy!  Thanks for stopping by today..Margaret

Details:
Image: Northwoods
Die: Spellbinders
Snowflake punches: EK Success (these are about a decade old!)
Other: Bling from Hobby Lobby, Doodlebug Sparkly paper (snowflakes), Stickles, Cuddlebug embossing

Christmas wishes (2 for 1)

Hello!  Merry Christmas!  Even though it's a day later, I have always grown up with this just being the beginning of the Christmas season.  I am by with a quick post to share with you one of the Christmas cards I made.

This one is for Claudia.  She LOVES the Mimi images by Penny Black, and I happened to get this one half off at Michael's a few weeks ago.  I actually used an older MFT sketch (MFTWSC149) for inspiration.  Simple sweet card that got a squeal of delight. :)   I'm sharing this with the Belli Challenge #185: Christmas theme.  The spirit of this blog is to use old and forgotten embellishments. The little snowflake is from an old die from SU--I love these snowflakes but always forget I have them.  The jewel in the center--that one, I would say is OLD.  How's 2004 sounding to you?!!! LOL  And the glitter is old "snow" glitter I picked up in Hobby Lobby years ago!  I never use it but the theme of the challenge made me look through my stash and help me think of using this.

I also have another quick card to share (also below).  I recently picked up a die from Taylored Expressions and put it to good use with a gift card I gave to my cousin for Christmas (in the form of a card).  She's a ballerina so I thought she'd appreciate this one. :)  The only downside to this die cut is that it is too large for the 6x6 paper pads so I just used card stock and cut out one piece to give some pattern to the back of this little gift card holder.

My girls are leaving tomorrow to visit with their dad so I should be back full steam to share with you some creations.  :)

Thanks for stopping by--til tomorrow.

Details:
Top Card
Image: Penny Black
Sentiment: Stampin Up
Snowflake Die: SU
Snowy landscape: Papertrey die
Paper: Doodlebug
Other: Glitter (Christmas glitter from Hobby Lobby), bling from Hobby Lobby, Sitckles (on hat)

Lower Card
Die: Memory Box (Ballerina); Taylored Expressions (Gift card holder)
Paper: POW Glitter Paper by American Crafts and Doodlebug Patterned paper

Christmas Tags

Tonight I am going to share some tags I made this year.

My sweet friend Susan went the extra mile working with me on a project so I decided I needed to give her a little gift.  She has lots of family to whom she gives presents, so I made her a ton of gift tags!

I also made a little sack to put them in using a Sizzix die.  The tags use various SU! stamp sets.  I used a scrap of dp and cd for the sack, and tied ribbon to half the tags (the ones with the to/from stamped on the backside) and put double sided tape on the back of the others.  I used Versafine Satin Red, Majestic Blue, and Olympia Green ink and thin colored elastic for the ties.  The snowflake is a die from MFT using DCWV glitter paper.  I used SU! punches to cut everything out.  Easy peasy!

I am entering the following challenges:

Heck of a Challenge - colorful Christmas

Imagination Crafts - merry Christmas

Seemacrafts - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!

kathy b

Snowflake greetings

Hello everyone,
Are you all ready for Christmas?  I am certainly not!  Presents are all wrapped but house still needs cleaning, groceries need to be purchased before all the festivities begin and Claudia's card still needs to be made.  Guess I need to get going.

My post will be a quickie today.  Here's a card I made for my boss…It was so late when I was making this so I needed to do something quick and easy.  Doodlebug paper, MFT Snowflake die on glitter paper, Impression Obsession stamp sentiment and a touch of Swarovski and Voila…we have a card!

I've been working on another detailed card for Julia which I will post tomorrow.  She wanted one that outdid the one I made for my nephew and Kathy.  Now THAT's a tall order.  No challenges today but I hope this card inspires you if you need a few quick ones made.  See you tomorrow…sleep well.

PS.  Check out all the beautiful cards we got from Kathy! (Below).  THAT is our Christmas present!

From Kathy:

Merry Christmas

Whoo Hoo!

I am back with another card tonight.  

This one uses the December digi stamp of From the Heart.  She's called Anneke and I think she is just adorable.  She is colored with Copics and the ribbon is colored with silver Wink of Stella.  I used glitter on the fur trim through.  DP is from Carta Bella.  Sentiment is from SU! with the star colored with burgandy Spica.

I am entering the following challenges:

Treasured Times - Christmas sparkle with glitter

Sweet Stamps - glitter

Crafter's Cafe -  Make it Sparkle

Di's Digis - Christmas

Cards in Envy - Icy or Hot

Thanks for stopping by!

kathy b

Puppy Dog Wishes

Hi everyone!  It's been awhile since I have posted.  

Life is so crazy right now.  Lots of end of the year deadlines

at work.  All the holiday preparations to accomplish.

Crazy weather added to all this.

I have Margaret's Christmas card to share with you tonight.

This pup reminds me of Margaret's dog, Daisy.  The set is from Sparkle n' Sprinkle, stamped with Memento Black Onyx and colored with Copics.  I used Stickles Diamond for the the snow.  The dp is Jillibean Soup and cs is SU and PTI. 

She got the card in the mail today and has already opened it up!

I am entering the following challenges:

MilkCoffee - Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's - previously unshown or last minute

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - White Christmas

Sweet Pea - Christmas

Wags n' Whiskers - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by! 

It's good to be posting again, but it will be sporadic throughout the holidays.  Then we will get back in the swing of things again!

kathy b

Kathy's Christmas card

Hi everyone,
Wow, I just realized it was midnight and I forgot to post!

Today's card is Kathy's Christmas card.  Last year, I really outdid myself (and so did she) because we each created super sparkly cards for each other.  This year, my card is more "time" investment and "cute".  The little doggie that is behind the window is actually a cut out Penny Black stamp and I placed acetate on the window so it would look "real".  It doesn't really come through in the photo.  Inside is a Christmas Scene I created from a multitude of stamps: Cottage creations (little girls with kittie), Stampavie (Chest and girl going downstairs with presents) and Impression Obsession (tree).   The only thing I realized at the end was that I didn't quite capture the floor vs wall difference!  It was too late…oops.

Well I worried about destroying the surprise, but usually the cards looks different in person than in real life, so hopefully Kathy considers this a "taunting"  (As my oldest Julia would say).  LOL.

Thanks for stopping by…hope you all are getting a chance to wrap up that Christmas shopping so you can rest some before the actual big day.

Margaret

Details:
Outside card:
Background: Impression Obsession
Window and Leaf: Memory Box
Dog: Peny Black
Sentiment: Cottage Creations
Paper: My Mind's Eye

Inside Card:
Memory Box (Mirror and staircase)
Stampavie: Girl with packages and chest
Impression Obsession: Tree
Girl with Kitty: Cottage Creations
Stampin up (Sentiment)

Gingerbread House

Hi everyone!
I think I can speak for Kathy too….we both feel really badly that we haven't been posting.  My schedule right now is C-R-A-Z-Y with finals, grading and wrapping up the semester..not to mention Christmas.  It seems Christmas is coming too fast, since Thanksgiving was so late.

With that in mind…I spent all day in my art room today.  I hadn't seen those walls in weeks!  Today's card is for my nephew.  He is only 4 months old but my sister has purchased a special box to save all his cards from me (Which I think is very sweet).  I can't wait to meet him in January for the first time!

This card isn't done justice in the photo.  First of all, the blue is actually TEAL and even with color adjustment, I couldn't get it to look right.  I think it's because I took the photo in a north facing room.  Secondly, there is a lot of special cutting and popping up with foam tape.  Also  stickling.   I'm not sure it all quite comes out so I tried to post some closeups.  I will be honest…I love this stamp--but it was just as challenging to work up as it looked!  However, I'm really happy I went ahead and worked on it--it's been one of those stamps sitting around in my drawers for years!

I'll be entering this card into A creative romance: Sparkle at Christmas

Well, I will be back tomorrow with a very special card.  It is Kathy's Christmas card and we always try to outdo the cards we made the year before.  I'm not sure I quite accomplished it with mine this year…but it is still very sweet and I'm excited to share it with you.  Til then, stay warm…

Margaret


Details:
Stamp: Impression Obsession
Sentiment: Hero Arts
Die: Stampin Up, Impression Obsession
Edge: Martha Stewart
Other: Stickles

Joyeux Noel

I have a tag to show tonight 

that I made for the Aud Sentiments DT.

This is an adorable Winter Mimi digi image from Stamp Fairy.

I colored her with Copics and added Wink of Stella and Spicas for bling.  I cut the image out with a Spellbinders die and used a Sizzix die for the tag.  The sentiment is from PTI, stamped with Encore Metallic Silver.  The round circle is cut out with a Cat's Pajama's die using DCWV glitter paper.   I think the tag looks like an ornament now, don't you?  I added 3 ribbons to the top. Hmmm, I wonder who will get this tag???  I know!!!

I am entering this in the following challenges:

The Ribbon Girls - Ho Ho Ho Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - for someone special

Little Claire's - Christmas

Digi Haven - Christmas

Kitty Bee - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!

kathy b

With Sympathy

I hope everyone in the USA had a great holiday weekend and that the sales on Black Friday didn't leave you broke!  Like Margaret, I am doing the internet shopping thing.  (Shhhh, I bought her gift last night).   

This card is for a friend who lost her brother-in-law recently, far too young.

I used the sketch from Seems a Little Sketchy, but the deadline has past for entering this challenge.  The dp is Basic Grey Boxer and cs is from Michaels.  Labels 4 was used to cut out the sentiment from Verve.  This is actually 2 stamps.  I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and used Ranger Super Fine Detail embossing powder.  Then I used Memento London Fog and stamped the image over the embossed sentiment.  I added deep red Swarovski crystals as accents.

I am entering the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenges - thinking of you
2 Sisters - anything goes
Inkspirational - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by!

kathy b