Chocolates and Roses

Did the title fool you? Does this sound like a typical Valentine's Day gift? Well not this time, this is actually the name of the challenge this week with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long!! That's right, it's a color challenge and we want to see you create with shades of browns and pinks. This just happens to be one of my favorite color combos and I'm sure this applies to most of you too.
When in doubt, I always say you can't go wrong with pink! LOL!
I just love my CC Designs stamps and so I colored an image from the Christmas 2009 set which you can get from All That Scraps. She just happens to be one of my favorites from this collection. The colors I used for my card are colors from Stampin' Up: pretty in pink, pink pirouette, regal rose and close to cocoa. I used my snowflake embossing folder from cuttlebug for the background, spellbinders for the circle and jagged edge circle.
I also used my Martha Stewart snowflake punches and added some white flowersoft to the pompom on her hat and snow where she is sitting. There were such beautiful cards made with the paper piecing challenge last week and I hope that you will be joining us again this week for this color challenge!! Don't forget, that should you participate you could be the next guest designer on the Christmas Stampin' blog!! Be sure to stop by the blog to see the wonderful creations from the rest of the DT. Happy Aloha Friday!!

Two In One

It's the middle of the week which brings us a new challenge with All That Scraps and of course Flutterby Wednesday! The Flutterby Wednesday challenge is an open one which means you can create anything as long as you are using a butterfly, angel or fairy on your creation.
The All That Scraps challenge is to follow a sketch. There are SO many adorable stamps out there and only had a chance to color up this little guy. This stamp is called Toby with Roses, he is from a line called Wild Rose Studio and you can get him HERE.
Besides using this new and cute stamp, I just loved adding my paper flowers! I added some glitter to the center and edges of the flowers as well as the butterflies. I hope you'll join us for these challenges! I've been extremely busy these days and am trying to catch up with visiting your blogs. I will do my best to visit all of you today! Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Punch It Out!

Well, I think I have somehow gotten into the Christmas mood the past couple of days. It's actually nice to create cards for the holidays during the year. It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge with Sassy Cheryl's! The challenge this week is to use your punches. We've all got lots of them so now is the time to use them!! For this challenge I am using a Christmas image called Reindeer Pull. I just love the cuteness and the facial expression on that reindeer!! LOL!! Sure looks like fun to me!! I love Christmas and I love the pretty traditional red and green BUT... I also really love the non-traditional colors such as pink and blue. I think these are perfect colors for Winter.
For the challenge I have used my Martha Stewart snowflake punches and added some bling to the center to make them stand out. I'm not sure about all of you but I really love my Martha Stewart punches, I have lots of them and really am glad that we are using punches for the challenge. I hope that you will join us this week and show us how you use your punches. For more inspiration from the DT, just click on their names:
Alina, Ann, Cathy, Christa, Dawn L, Heather, Jackie, Judy, Kim, Peggy and Tracy.
Enjoy your day!

Flower Power

Remember I said there would be something new and fun for Monday? Well, today is the day and the surprise is a new challenge blog! Today begins the very first challenge for Belles n' Whistles stamps! This challenge will take place every other Monday, and in order for you to participate and be eligible for the prize you must use a Belles n' Whistles stamp.
Our first challenge is for you to create flowers. I know there are lots of you out there that make your flowers and we want to see them! The stamp I used for the challenge is called Twas the Night Before Christmas, it is my first time using this stamp and I just love how fun it was to color and create with. Since it was a Christmas stamp I decided to create some of my own poinsettia flowers. To create them I used my nestabilities (a.k.a. Spellbinders dies). This one is actually called poinsettia. I did a little distressing with my Stampin' Up ink, and sponged the edges. Then I punched out some yellow cardstock and added some dew drops over them to act as the center of my flower.
Now for the stamp, I wanted to give the chair a comfortable feel so I tried hard to make it look like it was soft and velvety. I'm not so sure if you can see what I was trying to achieve but I tried. LOL! Next, I wanted to give Santa's suit some softness so I added white fun flock to the sleeves of his jacket, his hat and the bottom of his pants. The last thing I added was the little cotton ball at the end of his hat. I also paper pieced the blanket that the children are using. I wanted to keep the theme of flowers so used a floral print.
Whew! That was quite a description...hope it was helpful to you. Now that you know about the challenge, there is also a wonderful prize up for grabs... If you participate you could be the proud owner of a $25 Gift Certificate!! How awesome and generous is that!!
I hope that you will join us for the challenge, I just can't wait to see how all of you create your own flowers!! Have a great day!

Budding Artists

Happy Sunday! I hope you are enjoying your weekend and I hope you've got sunshine in your area too!! It's time for a new challenge with Sunday's With Crissy and the challenge theme is Layers. I think this may be one of my favorite challenges since I love to add layers to my cards. Now that I look at my card, I could probably have added another layer somewhere in there. LOL! The image I am using is called Budding Artists, and you can get it from HERE. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this image was my niece. She's 2 1/2 years old and just loves to stand at her easel and paint or color her giant coloring book. She is really a Budding Artist herself!! She also has a cat that watches her create! SO, this card will be going to her.
Remember that in order to qualify for the prize you must use a digital image created by Crissy, and to follow the theme. The challenge is for 2 weeks so you've got lots of time to join us! Here is where you can find digital images created by Crissy: Whimsy Stamps, Squigglefly and Wags n' Whiskers. Hope you will join us! Be sure to check out what the rest of the DT has created too!! Have a wonderful day!!

Shake It Up!!

This is my second post today, please scroll down for my first post.

I'm back again and this time I am sharing a card using one of my most favorite stamps!! Is she adorable or what? You love her too right? This is a stamp from Belles n' Whistles called
Beary Big Hugs!!

When I first began rubber stamping (which is a long time ago...LOL!) I used to create tons of cards that were shaker cards. A shaker card is one that has all kinds of little embellishments that fit into a mini frame. This frame will also hold your stamped image. There are so many different ways to create a shaker card. I do have a tutorial on creating them and you can find that HERE, and HERE. I made this shaker using thick mounting tape for the frame.
Here is what it looks like from the side. Here you can see that I added some dew drops in various colors, glitter and some beads for texture and color.
A closer look at the image and embellishments in the shaker box. When referring to my tutorial please contact me if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to help you!! =)
Each time I create a shaker card, it takes me back to those days when I was new to stamping.
If you have never made one before, you must!! I know you will love the results.
Speaking of Belles n' Whistles, be sure to check out the blog on Monday!! Something new and fun is on the way!!
Thanks so much for stopping by today, wishing you a wonderful Friday!!

Angel

Happy Aloha Friday! I just can't believe how quickly time flies, it's almost Summer!! Are you ready for Summer? OR Shall I ask... are you ready for Christmas? LOL! Yes, it is time for a new challenge with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, and the challenge this week is to create a card with paper piecing.
The stamp I am using is from a CC Designs set called Angel Emma. Rather than always coloring her clothing in, I felt this was the perfect stamp to show that she can look great in a patterned gown too! =)
I had fun doing paper piecing on her gown and also decided to use some patterned paper on the snowflakes too! I used my nestability Snowflakes to create them. I think having a pattern on the flakes makes it come alive. Then I added some glitter to her wings, bling to the center of the snowflakes and some pearls in the corners of my card.
I hope you will join in on the challenge with us! Remember that if you participate, you could be the winner of the week and be chosen as a Guest Designer the following week!! I can't wait to see what you will create!!

Beach Babe

Happy hump day!! Well, I've been working hard to create wedding thank you cards for my brother in law but wish I could work much quicker. My goal is to get them all done by Saturday so I can give it to them on Sunday. We'll see... I will definitely show you what they look like once all 150 are done. (I hope they don't need more than that...LOL!!) Just kidding!!
Are you ready to challenge yourself today? It's a new challenge with All That Scraps and of course Flutterby Wednesday!!
The challenge for All That Scraps is to use Dry Embossing on your card. So I used one of my Sizzix embossing folders and embossed a cherry blossom pattern onto green cardstock. I also used my nestabilites for the circle and scalloped circle. The theme for Flutterby Wednesday is to create a card using flowers. Pretty fun and easy right!!
The image I am using today is from All That Scraps and is one of the latest stamps for the May release. Her name is Honey Bikini and can be found HERE.
The sentiment I used is from Amy R's Underwater Sentiments . One of the fun things I love about her glasses was being able to add some crystal lacquer to make is shine!! That's one of my favorite accessories to work with!! Well, you will have until next Tuesday to join in on both challenges, and I hope you will!! Have a great day!

Bee On Your Nose

I'm still trying to get back into the groove of things here in blogland after my brother in law got married this weekend. Now I am in the process of creating a bunch of thank you cards. I hope to get that all done in a few days!! Anyway, today is Tuesday and that means it's time for a new challenge with Sassy Cheryl's!
The challenge this week is to create a card using buttons!! The image I chose reminds me of Winnie the Pooh. It's called Bee On Your Nose. I love this image, it reminds me of when I was a child playing with my favorite dolls and teddy bears. I still have my favorite dolls and bears somewhere stored in my parent's house.
I chose bold colors for my card today and was able to finally use the papers that have been waiting for me to create with them! LOL! I love that you can create several cards out of just one piece of paper.

Well, we have something NEW going with Sassy Cheryl's challenge that begins this week, here's some information for you.
In addition to our random pick for a $5 gift certificate, we are looking for a Guest Designer from this week's entries. Sassy Cheryl and the Sassy Girls will be selecting their favorite entry and that person will get to join us in a Guest Designer Spot.
The winner will be on the Sassy Cheryl Design Team for the week of June 1st and will receive 3 FREE digital images from Sassy Cheryl's Store.
So if you ever wanted to be part of a Design Team here's a chance to try it out and get some experience!! We hope you will play along with us!!
Be sure to check out what the rest of the DT has created, just click on their names:
Alina, Ann, Cathy, Chrissy, Christa, Dawn L., Heather, Jackie, Judy, Kim, Peggy and Tracy.
Have a great day everyone!!s

Lemonade Anyone?

It's Monday, I hope all of you had a great weekend! My brother in law got married this weekend to a very sweet girl, I'm so happy to have her for a sister in law. It was a beautiful wedding!!
Well, it's time for a new challenge with Roses on Paper/Belles n' Whistles, and this challenge is to create a bag, box or gift set using stamps from either Roses on Paper or Belles n' Whistles.
Here is the box I created using one of my favorite stamps called Lemonade Anyone? I love creating items that are 3D!
This box was fun and easy to make and the directions can be found HERE. I was thrilled to be able to use my Martha Stewart punch for a border and I love using my paper flowers too!!
The photo above is what the top of the box looks like. I was also happy I finally got a chance to use my patterned paper from Stampin' Up called Sweet Pea. A great variety of colors and prints!
Last but not least I have added some crystal lacquer to the pitcher and glass to make it look real. That's definitely one of the fun tools I enjoy using when crafting.
I hope that you will join us for the challenge, you will have 2 weeks to participate in the challenge. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day everyone!!

"TWO" Sweet!!!

It's finally Saturday! Looks like today will be my only day for rest this weekend. My brother-in-law will be getting married on Sunday so it will be pretty hectic. I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend and ready to join in for some fun stuff!! First up is a card I made for the new Copic Creations challenge which is Monochromatic Coloring. I LOVE this technique for coloring, it was lots of fun and plan on doing more of these in the future. This challenge was sponsored by Paper Makeup Stamps. There are lots of cute and fun images to choose from. The image I chose is called Moody for Fun. I love these cute and sassy girls.
The shades I chose were on the softer side. They are W0, W1, W3,W5. I hardly ever use the W's and felt I should give it a try today.

My next creation is for a new challenge with Tamiko's!! This challenge is to create a 6x6 scrapbook page using some black in your page. I have not created a page in many, many years! I really had fun putting this one together using a photo of my niece when she turned 2 years old.
Hopefully this will be the start of making at least a page a month.
The image I used is from The Greeting Farm, she is called Cuddle Anya and you can get her from Tamiko's Online Store. The teddy bear heads are from the bear that Cuddle Anya is holding. I just stamped and colored his head 3 times. Remember that you will get FREE Shipping on your $25 order with Tamiko's, so RUN on over to get her and more!! I hope that you will join us for the challenges this weekend!! I'm still not feeling well but will try to get to comment on your blogs today.

Challenge #50

Can you believe it? We are already doing challenge #50 for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long! That is amazing to me. I hope all of you are well and ready for a new challenge. This week's challenge is a recipe challenge. It was really fun and I loved looking at what the DT came up with.

Here's what the recipe consists of :
Kraft CS: 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Red CS: 1 3/4 x 3 1/4
Patterned Paper: 3 1/4 x 4 1/2
Ribbon/Fabric: White
Buttons/Brads: Red

I hope you'll join the fun, and remember that your card could be the winning card of the challenge and you can be the featured Guest Designer for the next challenge!! And, of course you will also have one less Christmas card to make this year. Have a great day!

April OCS and Lots to Share

Hi Everyone, sorry I've not been around to comment on your blogs yesterday, I got sick and have been resting. I hope to make some of my rounds today.
Today, I am sharing with you a card from my OCS (one card swap) April partner Sherri. She created a very sweet card with a cupcake, it's adorable!!
My next set of photos are RAKs from very sweet and dear friends. The first is from Mama. She's a really sweet and creative person, and sent me this 4 drawer easel box with goodies!! Cute huh!
This next photo is a purse that Mama taught us how to make at our recent gathering at Joy's... cute too right!
This is a RAK from Joy! I love this box and how it opens... look at all the goodies that fit inside!

Next are some Easter treats from Cami and Joni. I tell you, arent' these ladies creative or what?

The next 2 RAKs are from Michelle. I love Hello Kitty and CC Designs... does she know me well or what??!!

Last but definitely not least is a RAK from dear Kyoko!! Oh boy, a vampire!! Love it~ this is a vampire doll made out of one continuous piece of string. I know he looks kind of like a voodoo doll but is NOT. On the back it says he will protect you from harmful things at night. So, I think when I am up late crafting... he will be sure that I won't get "crafter's block" LOL!!.

A very HUGE THANK YOU GIRLS!!! I LOVE everything!! I hope all of you are having a great day! Please join me tomorrow for a Christmas Stampin' challenge!

Everything Paper!

Happy hump day! Time for a new challenge with All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge, and Flutterby Wednesday! First, the All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge is to create a Paper Cone. You can find the directions HERE.

This is an easy and fun project to create!! I know most of you will love that! I have a few pictures of this cone so you can see it better. The image I used is from CC Designs and comes from the set called Flower Power

Here's a side view of the cone and the embellishments too. I think this was a cool and fun DSP.

Here's the back of the cone, I added blue satin ribbon on the seam of the paper.

I hope you will join us for the challenge!! My next card was made for Flutterby Wednesday and the challenge is to create a card with paper piecing. I did that for her dress and shoes.

I love my Swiss Pixies, this is Birgitta, I paper pieced both her dress and shoes. Hope all of you will join us for the challenge, can't wait to see what you create!

It's a quick post for me today, can't wait to see your flutterby creations! Thanks for stopping by!

A Day With Mom

Hello everyone! I hope all of you had a great Mother's Day, hubby and I celebrated on Saturday with his Mom and Sunday with my Mom. Conflicting schedules made it hard to celebrate all together. Today is a new challenge with Sassy Cheryl's!! There are lots of images to choose from at the store, but image I am using today is appropriately called A Day With Mom.
I think this was perfect for my Mom, since she had 2 girls (my sister and I). We were and still are very close with each other. The challenge is to create a card or project with this sketch.


After I have colored my image and pieced the card together, I added some crystal lacquer to the balloons to make them shiny. One of the things I love to add to my card are dew drops. I know that some of you may be thinking that they are an embellishment of the past BUT, I think they add the perfect touch since they are not too big or too small, and they come in all different kinds of colors too! You will have 1 week to join us for the challenge, and I hope you do! For more inspiration from the DT, just click on their names:
Alina, Ann, Cathy, Chrissy, Christa, Dawn L., Heather, Jackie, Judy, Kim, Peggy, and Tracy.
Have a good one!!

I Made It!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!! Today I have exciting news!! I was chosen to be on Crissy Armstrong's DT for her new challenge blog called Sunday's with Crissy!! OMG!! I was extremely surprised, shocked and thrilled beyond words!! With that said here is my card for today's challenge. This week the challenge is called Favorites. You can take this anyway you want, and I chose to work with this adorable digital image from Wags and Whiskers called Angel Whispers. It's one of my favorites because of this little puppy who looks exactly like my little fur baby!! I could not resist. My fur baby Sophie is a silky terrier and has a combination of light brown and gray hair. I had to play with the colors on the image to get it just right. One of the great things I love about copics and coloring is the challenge. Coloring different images are always new, and a bit intimidating but I think this is a great way to get better at it. I'm not copic certified so, this is my way of learning, LOL!! I have used a sketch from Friday Sketchers to create my card.
Here's a closer look at the card. I have used my Martha Stewart butterfly punches to add to the card, then glittered both the butterflies and the wings of my image. I then added some pretty flowers that I just received from Wild Orchid Crafts and some from Stamp and Create.
I love all of these stores and would highly recommend you check them out too.
This challenge is a bi weekly challenge which means you will have 2 weeks to join us for the fun!
All you need to do is use a digital image that Crissy drew, and follow the theme of the challenge, and upload your creation HERE. You can find Crissy's digital images at Whimsy Stamps, and Squigglefly. I hope you will join us!
Well, that's it for me today, I hope you have a great weekend! Enjoy!

Noel Joy

DT CALL FOR BELLES N' WHISTLES GOING ON NOW UNTIL WEDNESDAY MAY12TH. FOR MORE DETAILS CLICK HERE!!

It's the first Friday of the month and that means it's time for a project with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long!! This week the challenge is to create an Accordian File Purse. You can find the tutorial HERE.
I love creating fun and functional items and this one was just as fun! You can use this accordian file purse for just about anything.
Here is a side view of the purse and a close up of the snowflake closure I made. I used the Snowflake nestability and airbrushed a couple of them. Then I overlapped them and added a rhinestone in the center.
Here is what the file looks like when it's opened. You can see that there's lots of space to hold all kinds of things.
The DT have also created a card to match the purse. My card was made using a stamp from Sarah Kay called Noel Joy. I have added some white flower soft for the snow she is stepping in.
This will make a great gift for the holidays and all you have to do now is fill it up with lots of craftin' goodies!! Don't forget that when you participate in these challenges you have a chance to be a guest designer for the next challenge, and be featured on the Christmas Stampin' blog too! I hope you will join us!!