New Year Cards

I don't usually make New Year's cards but I was excited to use some things I found around the house this holiday season! You see, I love to find packaging and try to re-use it in cards. You can see another project HERE where my husband saved me a pretty chocolate box to use. I thought I'd try the "ribbon" challenge from Daring Cardmakers, one of the 4 dares they suggested for the end of the year. The two bottom cards are made using parts of our Christmas Crackers that we broke open before Christmas dinner. We had 2 kinds, the ones with the star bursts (left bottom) and ones with white and silver polka dots (bottom right). The card on the top used up a silver birthday invitation that my son got earlier in the year. It was such a pretty silver that he also used it to make his own ATCs. It was also used for the rivet stamp on the bottom right card. That card got a ton of milage!! and talk about good recycling! I don't know about you but I love organdy ribbon, and especially black organdy ribbon!! I find I use it all the time! As you can see, that is the ribbon I used to meet the Daring Cardmakers dare!! Well, I hope you all have a wonderful New Year celebration. I also wish you all the best in 2008!

Yeah for Presents!!

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Here are some of the awesome presents I received for Christams. My wonderful son and husband really took care of me this year.

<----- See this!! It is a light studio. My craft room is very dark and even with the lights on full blast, I have trouble getting good photos... as you've probably noticed in the past. But, no more, now I will have great photos!! or at least well lit :-)

As well, I also got some paper shelves... finally. I have been trying to figure out how to organize my 12 x 12 paper. Before Christmas, we found some cube shelf units that can all be connected and they had paper shelf units. My wonderful husband bought me 3 of the paper holders and a few of the different drawer cubes.

They are wonderful and my craft room is much more organized than it used to be :-) That makes me a very happy crafter!!

My wonderful son bought me a stamp set. However, when it came time to wrap presents, it had not arrived from SU headquarters yet. So, he wrapped a piece of wood inside a box. Along with this, he added a note that read something like this, "I ordered you a stamp set for Christmas but it didn't come in on time. But that's okay because it's the thought that counts, right." It was so sweet! And then, hubby pulled out the actual stamp set because it did end up arriving just in the nick of time !! It was a wonderful Christmas around here! I hope you all had a great holiday as well.

Now, I'm very excited to start stamping and scrapbooing again!! I have been working on some lessons from my Design Basic book. I am learning a lot and can't wait to share with you too!!

Thanks for visiting.

Holiday Family Time

Hi everyone. Same as many of you, I will be taking the next few days off in order to spend holiday time with my wonderful family. I will also be busy reading my design book and coming up with samples to share with you as I learn. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and an exciting New Year! Donelda

Co-Worker Gifts

I made these boxes for my "team" at work. Inside is some yummy Peanut Brittle. My inspiration was from Emily's Color Challenge 140 way back on November 12. I saw the colors on Emily's sample cards and I knew I wanted to make these boxes!! I know that those swirls aren't really Christmas...but in the Purely Pomegranet they kinda take on a bit of a Christmassy feel!! And I love that Christmas Wishes sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Believe set....it is totally black now because I used it so much! I know I had said I was done with Christmas uploads, but I just ggave these out and wanted to share. Oh, and the boxes are the 2, 5, 7, 10 boxes which you can find a great tutorial on SplitcoastStampers in the Projects section!! Very easy to make!! Thanks for dropping by for a visit.

Scrapbook page

I wanted to share one of my very first scrapbooking pages I made about a year and a half ago. It is still one of my favorite pages. The pictures are of my son at the Build a Bear workshop store in the West Edmonton Mall. We were there for a family holiday and came across the store by accident. It looked like so much fun we had to give it a try. As you can see, my son enjoyed it so much!! And continues to love his bear today! For the left page, I created a quilted look by spritzing my cardstock with water, crumpling it, and then ironing it flat. Then, I actually hand stitched all of those quilt pieces!! My fingers were sooooo sore by the time I was done!! I also made those little read hearts from Fimo clay and painted them red. My favorite part of this page is the tilted close up of the "heart" being placed inside the bear in the middle. On the right side page, I wanted to show how much the bear has been loved over the years. I included a file folder and, although you can't see the front, it has all the places that the bear has travelled with us! Then, when you open it up, there are pictures of the bear now. He is looking pretty "worn" so I distressed the pictures, using sandpaper on them and then my Close to Cocoa on the edges to make it look distressed!! Finally, on this last picture, you can see the "quilting" that I did on this second page. I made little tears and cut some of the stitching so that the page matched the worn look of the bear in the pictures! I think it all came together well and it certainly shares a very special story for our family!! Thanks for visiting!!

One Last Christmas card...

....I hope!!! I've got to admit, I am really getting sick of stamping Christmas cards. So hopefully this is the last one to make. Don't get me wrong, this card is for a very special person, Jenny!! I was asked by my "team" to make her a Christmas card (which is always an honor to be asked to make a card for someone)! She is such a nice person and she is crafty and makes cards and scrapbooks. So I wanted to make something really nice.

I started out using some of the Anna Griffin holly paper I had used on THIS card. But then I wanted to use this little holly stamp from Papertrey Ink's Borders & Corners {Oval} set and it got too busy. So, I decided to use this red Basic Grey paper from the Blush collection. I love this red paper and by using this piece, I only have about 1/3 of the 12x12 sheet left. I will be so sad when it is all gone. I'm not sure if you can even buy it anymore!!

I know I matted it with black and it looks kinda dark but, I really like it!! I stamped the little holly leaves with Wild Wasabi ink and then glued on these red beeds using Crystal Effects (SU). The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Believe set... definately the sentiment I used the most this year!!

I hope Jenny likes it!!

Thanks for visiting.

Rick Rack Card

I made this card for the Caardvarks rickrack challenge!! The only rickrack I have is this multicolored stuff. So I decided I needed to have some color fun!!

I saw my textboxed set from Papertrey Ink and realized that I haven't even used the stars yet ... so I decided to have fun with it. I started out by embossing the box with black ep. Then I cut out the stars using my hobby knife and matted the box onto a multi-colored sheet of paper. In real life, those stars are partly blue and sorta purple. Then I put this onto a piece of black cs. I then added the bottom strip of rickrack. But then what... I had a ton of space and some horrible balance problems. See this is why I need to learn more about design basics!! I was STUCK. I stamped the sentiment onto more of the multi-colored paper and stamped and cut out a tiny star to add to it. But where to put it?? Well I fiddled and farted around until I decided to add the second piece of rickrack at an angle and put the sentiment off to the right. I'm not sold on this card but it is definatly striking when it comes to color!!

thanks for visiting!!!

My Thoughts for 2008

Hi everyone!! I have been thinking about doing this for a while now and I figure I will start in January. I have never been lucky enough to take any kind of art class or design class. When I work, it is always "guess work". Well, I'm tired of not feeling confident in my work so I have decided to get myself a book and learn a thing or two about Design Basics!! It should be a lot of fun so I've decided to post on my SCS gallery and here on my blog what I learn. On Tuesdays, I will post what I have learned and show a card that I have made that is done the "wrong" way and one that is done the "right" way. I may follow the same lesson a few weeks in a row if it is a concept that I need more work on. I am soooo excited. So, drop in and visit me on Tuesday if you want to learn along with me :-)

Presents for my Demo

Well, I'm delivering this tonight so I thought I could finally upload it without her seeing it! You see, it is a gift for my Stampin' Up demo!! She has given me the opportunity to get involved with this awesome craft and I wanted to be sure to wish her the merriest Christmas with some gifts!!

I found 2 post it notes with her initial on it. They were blue and brown and were to initial inspiration for my entire gift package. I made the 2 post it note holders to put them in. See that brown polka dot paper -- it is the Au Chocolate paper from SU. But I wanted blue dots instead of the vanilla so I simply swiped my Soft Sky blue ink pad over the dots and it looks great once it is dry!!

Then I made the band and topper for the jar of home-made raspberry jam!! I decided to make a matching genie bag to put it all in.

But then, I saw the cool Criss Cross box that Nicole Heady created on her blog!! and I knew I wanted to make one to add to this gift package. As I indicated earlier, I made my box using my scaled down version and inside are a few Russell Stover chocolates.... YUM!!!

I certainly hope she likes all of it!! I know I had a lot of fun making all of it :-)

Thanks for visiting!!

Another Calendar

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I'd said that I had more calendars on the go and here is another one. I did it using the same package of basic grey papers - only the green sheets. I used only one stamp with this one, the small leaf from Papertrey Ink's Test Boxed set! It is the perfect leaf. As well, I only used one color of ink -- Close to Cocoa - I love that color!! Now that I have these calendars figured out, they only take a short while to make!! I love them. I might have to make one for myself.

See the other calendar I posted HERE.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave a link if you've made a calendar that you have made! I'

Candy Cane boxes

I was checking out Nicole Heady's blog (she's the brains behind Papertrey Ink!!) and her countdown is on to her newest stamp release on the 15th. She does projects each day until the release just to tempt us all!!! I love it.

Well, her last project was this cool Criss Cross Box that she designed based on the criss cross card on SCS.

Well, I LOVED IT!! Is that not just the coolest!! I made a full sized one but then thought it would take a lot of "something" to fill it at that size. Then I saw the Ghirardelli and Russel Strover chocolate squares that I bought and knew I needed to "adjust" the size to fit a few of these!! It was actually much easier than I thought it would be!!

It took me forever to decide on how I wanted to stamp my background. I didn't really want to do snowflakes and I couldn't think of anything I had that was red and/or green and christmassy. Then, I thought about my Faux Ribbon set from Papertrey Ink and knew I could do a candy cane look!! However, I don't have a block large enough to hold the long strips from that set....but have no fear.....I am all about improvising!! I found the largest glass I could

and used it as an acrylic block. It worked perfectly!!!

I love the bands on the boxes, especially this one one with the scalloped edge inked in green and those tiny holly - they are one of the tiny stamps from the borders & corners {oval} and then I used Crystal Effects to glue some small red glass beads.

These are gifts for my son's teachers. I hope one of them does not decide to check out my blog or she is going to see it before she gets it!!

For my box, you need to score across the bottom 2 1/2", 1/2", 2 1/2", 1/2"and 2 1/2" Along the vertical you need to have 3 1/2" at the top, then 1/2" and 2 1/2" at the bottom. Basically, you just follow Nicole Heady's template with the folding and cutting but just make the score lines at the places I've indicated here. I tried to draw a template but I can't figure out how to upload it!! Hehehe.

I'd love to see your criss cross box!! Please leave a comment with a link to yours!!

Thanks for visiting.

Bright and Shiny!!

Well, this card is certainly not my usual style!! I am probably going to have to work on this baby a bit more to make it "doable" for me. It all started with that shiney colorful strip.......see it!! Believe it or not, it is Aluminum Tape that I picked up in the hardware area of our Dollar Store. I thought I would be able to use my new Adirondack Alcohol Inks with it... and I was right!! I used Strem, Lettuce, and Wild Plum. Those colors lead me to the turquoise and orchird cardstocks. I added a bit of black to "tone it down a little". The drink is also colored with the same inks and the corner of a piece of felt. I made it circular because Sharon over at No Time To Stamp? had a challenge (Stamp Simply Challenge #12) to make a circle card. And the "tape" fits into Julia's challenge on SCS to use tape in some way on a card. Wow, I think this might be the only time I've ever actually "doubled up" on a challenge. Now, if someone had just had a challenge to use extremely bright colors on a card.... hahaha!! Here is a little peek at the project I will be posting tomorrow! You are going to like it so make sure you stop by for a visit!! Thanks for visiting.

Star Ornaments - Tim Holtz style

I need some help. I want your input!! You need to tell me whether you would buy these star ornaments at a craft sale if you saw them. If you would buy them, why? If you would not buy them, why not? It is okay, I am fine with some honest feedback (as long as you are kind about it!!) I appreciate your help!

Can you tell I've been reading Tim Holtz's blog?? These are totally done in his distressing style! If you haven't checked out his blog you MUST !! He is doing some awesome techniques and giving away some increadible prizes each day!!

These star ornaments I got at Michaels for $1.00. I covered them with vanilla acrylic paint, being careful to leave lots of spaces to make it look kinda weathered. Then, I added some metallic gold paint to the spots I'd missed and added some here and there around the edges. Next, I used Walnut Stain or Broken China distressing ink and stamped on the images. I covered these with clear embossing powder. I also added the Believe sentiment from the Papertrey Ink's Believe set. It is such a beautiful font! Then, I sponged some of the distressing ink around the edges of the star. On the swirl star, I also sponged a bit of barely banana (SU) craft ink to highlight some of the more white spaces.

So, what do you think?? Would you buy these or not?? I am looking for some kind but honest opinions... and some understading of what you did like or what you did not like about them!! Thanks for your time in commenting.

Thanks for visiting!!!

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers 4

I joined this group of other bloggers who love stamping. It makes a nice community of others to share crafting ideas!! I have tried to put the badge on this post but I am just unsuccessful! Here is a little about me. I've been stamping for almost 2 years. I fell in love with the craft instantly. I mostly make cards but love to create 3D itmes as well. I have made many scrapbooks as well throughout those 2 years but I mainly seem to make mini books these days. The whole scrapbook page is so overwhelming to me after the size of a card. Looking forward to visiting with my other SBS4 sisters!

Post It Note Holders

I love making Post It note holders. They are so easy and you can make them either plain and casual or dress them up.

I wanted to make a couple for some friends who are having a little Christmas party, a little gift for the hostesses. Their names both start with P and I had bought a 2 pack of Post It notes that had the letter P on them and were purple. They matched perfectly with SU's Orchid Opulance. I also found this great piece of textured designer paper from my Old World Stack from Die Cut With a View. Finished it off with an encircled "smile" and black organdy ribbon and black mat.

I think they will like them.

Supplies: Cardstock: Orchid Opulance, Basic Black (Stampin' Up), Old World Stack (Die Cut With a View), Ink: Basic Black (SU), Stamps: Everyday Flexible Phrases (SU), Borders & Corners{circle} (Papertrey Ink), Organdy Ribbon (unknown)

Thanks for visiting

Calendars

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Our furnice is not working and I've been stoking the fire the last few nights. As well, we are having a huge problem getting a replacement tire on my car. I'm just waiting to see what the third problem that will arise... as things always seem to happen in threes!!

Here is a project I've been trying to work on....at least I have a few done....

I decided I wanted to make little desk calendars for some friends. I started out printing off the little calendars using this site.

Then, I picked out the paper. I decided to make it all coordinate and I used this BasicGrey pack from K&Company.

I stamped the rounded square from the Boarders & Corners {square} set from Papertrey Ink with Close to Cocoa ink onto more of the Basic Grey paper. Then, I created a mask with a 3M sticky. That allowed me to stamp images inside the square. I used different images from my Year Around Fun 2 (Stampin' Up) set - so glad I got that set! I cut out these squares, and glued them onto the calendar pages. I then added the swirl from the Delight in Life set (Stampin' Up) also in Close to Cocoa.

On the front, I used some coordinating paper from the same Basic Grey pack. I adhered this to a coaster, sanded the edges, and then inked it up with my Close to Cocoa (boy, I love that color!!). I did the same with a second coaster for the back. I decided to keep the front pretty simple, just adding the year with some rub-on numbers from a wonderful set from EK Success.

I used my Zutter Bind-It-All to hold it all together. Here is the calendar opened and standing. I made it using 6 pages with Jan to June on the front sides and then turning the pages over July to Dec on the back sides.

This project came together quite quickly. I am hoping to make more and will show you them when I have them together!

Thanks for visiting.

Anna Griffin Christmas Holly

See this beautiful Designer Paper!! It is from Anna Griffin and I absolutely love it! It is, to me, the nicest Christmas paper I've seen!! I LOVE holly!! I bought this paper last year, 2 sheets actually, and I think this might be my very last piece.

I had so much fun with Sharon's (No Time To Stamp) blog challenge earlier, I decided to make another challenge card using this last piece of paper.

So, the challenge is to make a card using designer paper and only a sentiment stamp (from Papertrey Ink - Holiday Wishes) Voila!! Another simply yet elegant Christmas card! This one might need to go to someone special.

Thanks for visiting.

A Piglet Birthday

I love how this little Piglet card turned out!!

Over on Sharon's blog, she issued another Stamp Simply Challenge (#11) called Stick It On. Her challenge was to NOT stamp your main image. We were allowed to stamp backrounds and sentiments but were to use something else as a main image.

Well, I've had these Winnie the Pooh window clingers since my son was just a little boy. I found them in a drawer a few months ago and moved them into my craft room....knowing I'd eventually find something to do with them. Well, here is that something!!

Isn't it cute how Piglet is peeking through the window. That is a frame from KI Memories Funky Frams & Labels sheet. I got it from Rhea at R&R Scrapbooking. She donated some gift bags to our Innisfail Indulgence event in July (how thoughtful and kind of her) and a sheet of these cool frames were in my package. As you know, I am on a mission to USE, USE, USE!!!

I stuck a piece of sticky note in the place where the window would be (a mask) and then stamped the background stamp on the white cardstock. Then, when I put the frame and Piglet on the white cardstock, it would be solid white behind Piglet. The black lines are doddled around the white panel. This makes the front of the card feel finished.

Supplies: Cardstock - Pixie Pink, Whisper White (Stampin' Up), Ink - Pixie Pink, Basic Black (Stampin' Up), Stamps - Soft Swirls (Stampin' Up), Paper Tray (Papertrey Ink), Accessories - Piglet window clinger (manufacturer unknown), ribbon (unknown as it was a gift), balck marker (SU).

If you make a card using something other than a stamp for the main image, post a link in the comment section so I can have a look!!

Thanks for visiting.

Inked-Up Christmas Tree

The Card Positioning System layout looked like a lot of fun!!

I had this silver metal Christmas tree that I bought last year (see, I am really trying to use up some of the stuff I've been collecting). I decided to try using my Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks on it to see what it would look like. I ended up liking it a lot. I used Lettuce, Meadow, and Latte.

The designer paper is from 3 Bugs In A Rug called French Country - Trellis. I didn't have any ribbon that would match my Christmas tree so I decided to try adding some of the Lettuce Alcohol Ink to a piece of yellow organdy and it turned out great as well!! Gotta love when that happens!

Other products used are: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Whisper White cardstock (SU), Very Vanilla craft ink (sponged around the edge of the white card base) and Basic Black ink (distressed edge of vanilla cs), corner rounder.

Thanks for dropping by for a visit. If you have experiemented with Alcohol Inks I'd love to see some inspiration!! Put a link in a comment!!

Thanks for visiting.

Metallic Holiday

I dropped in this morning to see what the Ways To Use It challenge was. Turns out Julia is having trouble with her computer (darn thing) so DawnL was our hostess! Her challenge...use metallic paper. Well, I was pretty sad because I do not have any of the new yummy metallic paper.

However, at supper tonight, my husband told me that he had saved the Laura Secord chocolate box (had even put it in my craft room) because he said, "there was some really nice green snowflakes and stuff" and he thought I might be able to use it for something. Well, you know what.... it was METALLIC GREEN!!! So, off to work I set to make a card!!

The sentiment is from Holiday Wishes (papertrey ink) and that bling is from the dollar store! Just a bit of black and white cardstock was all that was needed!

My hubby is the best guy ever!!

Thanks for visiting.

Soft Friend

I really liked Roxie's Sketch Challenge 152 tonight so I decided I'd play!

I have so many ideas to do with all the Papertrey Ink stamps I have. Tonight, I decided to use the teeny tiny flower in the Borders and Corners {square} set to make a background using Lavender Lace ink. Then, I took the big and medium flower stamps that match from the Beautiful Blooms set and stamped them with the same color. I looked for a color I wanted to use for the flower center...definately not yellow, not brown, not orange... mmmm, maybe sky blue!! The color combination is not my typical style ... but then this is a challenge...right!!?? The sentiment comes from Papertrey's Green Thumb set.

Pulled the card together with some purple gingham and a small bit of flower embossed purple paper.

The more I look at it, the more this color combo appeals to me. I can see it done with stars too....

Thanks for visiting!

Apples and God

A number of weeks ago, I found out that I was the lucky winner of some Blog Candy from Dina Kowal's blog Mama Dini's Stamperia. I received the stamps a few days ago, all the way from Indonesia!! They are verse stamps from My Heart Stamps For You.

I really liked this one that reads "Anyone can count the seeds in an apple...but only God can count the apples in the seed" Wow, how cool is that!!

I wanted to use it right away and I knew I could pair it with this apple stamp from Year Around Fun 2 (SU). I popped over to Dina's site to let her know my stamps had arrived and found a link to this sketch challenge posted by Susan Trask from Smart Works.

Simple and clean card. Apples are stamped with Close to Cocoa, colored with prismacolor pencil crayons, shaded with grey pencil crayon for a shadow, faux stitching with Close to Cocoa marker all on Very Vanilla cardstock. Sentiment is stamped in Close to Cocoa on VV cardstock and matted with Mellow Moss. All this put on Ruby Red card front and the whole thing attached to a Mellow Moss card base.

If you'd like to try the sketch, post a link so I can check it out too!!

Thanks for visiting.

Designer Paper challenge

Sharon, more commonly known as No Time to Stamp, posted a challenge on her blog today. The challenge - to use designer paper. Well, I have a ton of designer paper that I am really struggling to use. So, with my own challenge to use the materials I have "collected" in my craft room... I quickly ran to my designer paper shelf!!

I grabbed my most beautiful pad of K&Company called Classic K Bailey 12x12!! I've had this for at least 6 months... beautiful stuff, which is why I have yet to cut even one teeny tiny piece of it!! I looked for a sheet that had a Christmasy feel to it and sliced off a piece before I could stop myself :-)

The rest of Sharon's challenge was as follows "You are only allowed a sentiment stamp, NO OTHER STAMPED IMAGES ALLOWED!!! " so that made pulling the card together very easy!! A beautiful sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Holiday Wishes set in Brocade Blue and a Very Vanilly grograin ribbon and voila!! A beautiful card!! Oh, see that knot... how the ends are cut straight. I like to call that the Kurtis cut because he does a lot of his knots like that as opposed to the typical angle cut. I think it can have different effects, elegant like it looks on this card and rustic on some other cards I've made.

Go check out Sharon's amazing blog and try her challenge. Post a link in a comment so I can see your amazing work!!

Thanks for visiting!

Monochromatic Rub-On

The Caardvarks challenge is to make a card using rub-ons! I've had some beautiful rub-ons from Fancy Pants and was happy to use them! Just look at that beautiful frame and flowers!!! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb set stamped with Caramel ink. The cardstock is a piece from K&Company and it coordinted perfectly with the Caramel carstock card base. I finished off the card with some Close to Cocoa ink sponed around the edges and a bit of organdy brown ribbon. Sorry, not sure the company as it was a gift from a friend!!

I do like how this card turned out. I have been visiting Sharon's blog No Time to Stamp a lot lately and she has been commenting on how nice cards are easy if you use beautiful things. That is so true with this card - it was so easy but I think it has a simplistic beauty to it!!

If you have made a card using rub-ons post a link, I'd love to see it!!

Thanks for visiting.

Christmas Cards continued some more

Here is another one of the Christmas cards I've made. It was totally cased from THIS card. I totally fell in love with it when I saw it on the SCS gallery and had to make a few to mail out this year. I cannot stand to mass produce cards so I can only make a few of each style.

I started with the night of navy card stock and stampe the largest snowflake with craft white in the top left corner. Then I added the smallest snowflakes using versamark all over. I also added the sentiment with craft int he bottom left. The strip is made with some bordering blue cardstock (although it looks like sky blue or something in this photo). On that strip, I added various sized snowflakes with various colors of blue and with some white craft.

Again, a pretty straight forward card for christmas.

Thanks for visiting.

Christmas Cards continued again

This is one of my favorite cards. It is super simple, but there are a few cool things going on with it.

First of all, I used my home-made cereal box template for embossing the circles on this card. I got the idea from Chris Smith on her blog called From My Inkpad to Yours. Here are her instructions. And here is a close up of the embossed circles:

I made the embossed circles, then used the template to mask off the card and stamped parts of the snowflakes in the circles. I added just a bit of dazzling diamonds with 2-way glue. The ribbon finishes it off nicely.

I've made many other types of these cereal box templates that you can see HERE, and HERE, HERE (which is also masked too), HERE, and HERE too (I told you I've made a lot).

(Supplies: cardstock-Soft Sky (SU), Ink-Buckaroo Blue (SU), Stamps-Snowflakes (SU) and Warmest Regards (SU), Accessories-Double Stitch Soft Sky Gosgrain (SU).)

Thanks for visiting!! That is it for Christmas cards, unless I end up making more. But I'm hoping to get them ready for mailing soon so you shouldn't have to worry!!

Christmas Cards, continued

I am so impressed with some of my SCS friends
who have been busily making Christmas cards all year long (Jessica)! Well, I haven't made a ton of cards but I did get some done.



This card is simple but I love the effect. I started out using a rectangle mask and sponged on Bordering Blue ink using a dauber. Then, I added some snowflakes mostly in the top left side. Finally, I put the sentiment, also in Bordering Blue in the bottom right. I also added a bit of dazzling diamonds to some of the small flakes with my 2-way glue (I couldn't live without that stuff) and a q-tip.

Thanks for visiting!!

Christmas Gold

The challenge this week at Daring Card Makers is "Golden Highlights". We were asked to make a card using gold somewhere.

Earlier tonight I had pulled out my gold embossing powder as I expected that was the gold I would use. However, I happened upon these cute little epoxy Christmas stickers I had just bought at a local dollar store. At first I wondered what I could do with them as they were a bit too tiny to use on regular sized cards. Then I started sticking them onto different colored cardstock and really liked how the gold on them looked. I ended up deciding to using them on 3x3 cards. I might use the cards for the neighbors along with some home-made treats or maybe I'll make a little box to put them in and make it into a little gift.

Each card is outlined using a gold Pilot super color pen. The colored cardstock is (from left to right) Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue, and Mellow Moss and the ink color for the sentiment matches each cardstock color. That sentiment is one from the Holiday Wishes from Papertrey Ink.

I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with !!

Thanks for visiting.

Yes, I scrapbook too!

Yes, I actually made a scrapbook page. It has been some time since I've done an actual, full-sized page. I started this whole papercraft journey making cards, then scrapbooking and now back to cards.


Well, today I found THIS post over at Splitcoaststampers and it enticed me to give it a try. Lisa's page was so beautiful, as was Nicole's. They made me want to try a page of my own. I'm not sure which challenge this page fits best with, Lisa's or Nicole's...... Anyway, here is what I ended up with:



I love the fancy designer pages that have images "moving" across the diagonal, like Bohemia or Basic Grey designer papers. So, I decided that the home-made designer paper I would make would be that kind of paper. I used the leaf stamp from Papertrey Ink's Beautiful Blossoms and stamped it across a piece of Whisper White (SU) cardstock. Then, I added some of the dotted leaf outlines to make it a bit more funky. Then, using Ballet Blue (SU), I made these funky flowers. I swiped the same colored ink pad on to the white portions to mimic the marbled effect of the flower in the picture. I added more of the leaves as home-made and matching embellishments!! Finally, I added some faux stitching and a title that was hand cut.


Thanks ladies for encouraging me to get a page done.


Thanks for visiting my blog.

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Just a reminder that I have enabled everyone to be able to leave comments. Thanks for being patient!!

More Gift Holders

Well, I've been busy making some more gift certificate holders. Details about how to make them are posted HERE as well as a link to Jan Tink's blog where I originally saw the idea for business cards. I must admit though, I went back through to try and find these on her blog and I don't know where they are.

I used more of the Papertrey Ink stamps my husband got me for my birthday. The branch set is from the Take A Bough set. It is very cool. See those decorations hanging from the branch. Well, the larger one is actually 2 stamps put together. The round part is stamped first and then there are a few optional decorations to add to the center. Too cool!! They can also be covered by epoxy pebbles which makes them look like real christmas balls!

The stars are from the Believe set. I also used a swirl from my Gel-a-Tins set called Build Your Own Flourish. I have used it A LOT lately!!

All ribbon is from Michael's and ink is from Stampin' Up (including basic black, bordering blue, summer sun, garden green, close to cocoa, and real red.

Thanks for visiting. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you will be giving these a try! (I think I've fixed my comments so you should be successful!)

Fixed my "comment" options

Hi everyone. I've been hearing from some folks that you are trying to leave comments but cannot. Well, I think I've fixed the problem. At least I hope I have!! If you wouldn't mind, please try and leave me a comment and let me know if you are now able to. Thank you so much for being patient with me! Like I've said, this blogging adventure is new to me and I'm learning as I go! Drop by later, I've got some more projects to show you!! Donelda

Gift Certificate Holders

Sorry I didn't post last night. I was feeling icky yesterday and spent most of the day in bed. Yuck, I hate feeling sick. Well, I am going to admit... we are buying gift certificates for almost everyone on our Christmas list. I know it is a bit of an easy out, but it is nice to know that the kids will be able to get something they actually want. So, I really wanted to make something cool to put the gift certificates inside...not just a card but something that would make it kinda like opening a present. I remembered seeing these business card holders a long time ago on Jan Tink's blog Stamps, Paper, Scissors and thought it would make a great idea for a gift certificate holder. A bonus is that they are quick and easy to make as well.

To make them, you start with a typical envelope that we use with our cards. You fold each end in to meet the point of the flap. Then, You snip the flap where the fold is and lick and stick the right and left edge pieces closed while leaving the center part of the flap unstuck. Then you fold the sides in and keep the flap on the outside.

I made 2 different versions. On the tree version, I used the tree from Papertrey Ink's Believe stamp set. I added the star to the top and a present on the bottom. This was my first version, and I see I had added 3 presents, but coloring in this was exhausting so I ended up only using 1 present. I did the coloring with my prisma colorpencil crayons. On this version, I see I added Merry Christmas from my Fancy Flexible Phrases (Stampin' Up) but on the others, I used a holiday sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Faux Ribbon set. On the front, I added the sentiment Christmas Wishes from Papertrey Ink. I love the sentiments from Papertrey Ink, the fonts are just perfect!!! and they stamp so "crisp"! I also added lots of holly sprigs as well, colored with my prisma colorpencils.

Here is what the inside looks like. I did some decorating inside too. There is some room to write a nice holiday hello. And I knotted a ribbon (the red and blue are both from Michael's) on the front. If you want to know how to tie the PERFECT knot, you should check out this tutorial video from kwernerdesign blog. After tying all these knots using her tips, it really does make a great knot!! It did take a bit of practice!

For the second version, I decided to do somehting much more simplistic (without all the coloring) so I turend to my Snowflakes set (Stampin' Up). These are some of the nicest snowflakes! I did multiple sized snowflakes on the back and then the smallest snowflake and the teeny ones to fill in around it for the front and inside of the holder. I still used the Papertrey Ink sentiment and some blue ribbon from Michael's. You can see this version in the group picture at the top of this post.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this project. Maybe you can use it this holiday season to! Post a like in your comment if you do so I can check it out!!

Thanks for visiting.

Happily Ever After

I was checking out the most recent Card Positioning System #39 and really liked the layout! Over the last few days, I worked on this card and got it finished late last night.

When I got it done, I browsed over to the CPS site just to make sure I had kept to the layout when I saw Sherry W's card called Forever Friends (she is one of the CPS design team members). When I saw it I went "oh, oh!". Unconsciously, I ended up copying her card! Obviously, I saw her card, loved it, and then as I started to decide what I wanted to do for my own card, her ideas came through...

Once I saw the CPS layout with the fancy swirly thing at the bottom, I knew I'd use these bits of chipboard I have had from Fancy Pants. I bought them forever ago and have only used one tiny piece from the package. Well, if you've been reading my blog, you would know that my challenge to myself is to start using up bits and pieces of stuff I alreay own. This was what started my card.

Once I had decided on the chipboard, I started to envision the card. I also had seen (apparently from Sherry W- hehehe, but others as well) some great designer papers where there was a big swirly patterened repeated. I didn't have any (and I can't buy any) so I decided to make my own designer paper like it. I used this Cool Carribean color which, sadly, is no longer available from Stampin' Up which is too bad because it is such a nice color. And, pairing it with black is a dream. I used the bigger stamp from my Gel-a-tins Build Your Own Flourish set. I think it turned out awesome!!!

Then, I knew I wanted to use one of the Borders & Corners from Papertrey Ink but I couldn't decide between the rectangle or the oval. I ultimatly decided on the rectangle because I don't have a convenient way to cut an oval shapped mat. I used some little swirls from my Gel-a-tins Build Your Own Flourish set and stamped them onto some white cardstock. In order to make sure they were where I wanted them, I actually laid the rectangle stamp on top of the swirl stamps. Then, I added black ink on the rectangle stamp just in the places where I wanted it (not under the swirls) and stamped.

Next was the sentiment to go inside the rectange. That was a bit frustrating. I really really wish someone would do some sentiments that are more vertical for vertical cards. You know what I mean??!! Have them read down instead of across. This is about the 3rd time I've really wanted something like that and have had nothing in my stash... well, I don't have a very lare stash of sentiments so maybe I just have to be on the lookout for them. I ended up picking this Happily Ever After sentiment which would make this card a wedding card or maybe I can use it as an anniversary card.

I covered the chipboard swirl with black ink, and then added some white around the edges to help it stand out a bit. Once I put the card together, I realized I needed some black behind the main panel and I liked it better off to the left...just seemed to balance the card better. I am learning about balance from a great stamper Kurtis -- you really have to see this guy's blog -- yes, I said guy!! He is a young fellow who is truely talented at this craft !!

Well, I pulled the whole card together and loved the end result. Then, like I had said, I went back to the CPS site and saw Sherry W's card... I clearly had used it for my inspiration, even if I had not realized it at the time. Sherry, your card is absolutely beautiful!! I hope she doesn't mind that I copied it !!

If you have a card where you made your own backgroud paper, please post a link in a comment so I can check it out!! Sue, I was thinking about our discussion the other night -- maybe try leaving a comment and clicking on Anonomous -- just make sure you add your name onto your comment so I know it's you :-) This might work until I figure out the subscription thing. Anyone who knows how to set up the ability for others to "subscribe" to my blog, I'd appreciate some guidance. Thanks.

Thanks for visiting.

Home-made Velvet Flower

I was playing around with the Borders & Corners {circles} set from Papertrey! It is just soooo versatile!! I also had the left over velvet sitting on my craft desk from a previous project posted HERE. Looking at it, I thought that it would be perfect to make one of my home-made flowers (who needs a flower punch??!!). You can see my tutorial on this technique HERE. I also have been trying to use up "stuff" in my stash, and I saw these copper vellum tags and remembered I'd bought some copper brads -- they could go together!! Voila, here is the end result. It always amazes me when I reflect back on the "journey" of a card. Sometimes, the ingredients are instantly decided upon and other times, they slower come together after much trial and error. I hope you like the end result. If you decide to try one of these home-made flowers, please comment and leave a link so we can all see it!! Thanks for visiting.