Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Sketch Challenge 209 - Hello Friend

Well, this is my second post for today and my last post for 2008.
Since I am home all week, I am trying to do all of the SCS challenges this week. Just for fun (what else). During my regular life, I never seem to be able to get them done (actually I think it is really because I spend so much time blog surfing!! )
I pulled out a few Papertrey Ink stamps, paper, and ink to create this card based on Roxie's sketch.
I started out making the focal image panel (4). I stamped the flowers and stems first. Then, on a scrap of white cardstock, I stamped the humming bird and cut him out. I adheared him to the panel and then matted this on some coordinating cardstock. Next, I created the background panel (2) using Guide Lines. This set is amazing for making beautiful backgrounds that totally match your focal image. Finally, I created the third element where I placed my sentiment.
This took me a while to actually get pulled together. It didn't help that I started out with an increadible idea for a card using one of my smARTwork stamps...but it wouldn't "fit" into the layout once I was done. But you will definately be seeing that attempt on another card in the coming days!!
Supplies: Stamps - Guide Lines, Birds of a Feather (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink); Paper-Kraft, Select White, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink); Other-square blue rhinstone, paper piercer and mat.
Thanks for dropping in. I'm off to see what everyone else did with this layout!
Donelda

Old Guy Cards

So these are some of the most fun cards I've made!! My husband loves this clothing company called Old Guys Rule. They make hats, t-shirts, and stickers along with some other novelty items. So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw that they had come out with a scrapbooking line of papers and stickers.
I took the stickers and adhered them to some light cardboard. This way, they were like chipboard pieces. Then I started making some cards.
I think this long card is my favorite! It is home to the company's main logo. It says "Old Guys Rule Aged to Perfection". I added various circles on the blue paper (just like the card above) and also added some masculine feeling stripes to the gray paper.
The last card used the designer paper and one of the sticker "chipboard" pieces I created. I did a little altering of the sticker to read properly for the birthday card. A bit of doodling, sponging, and some string and, voila, a great masculine birthday card!!
So, what do you think?? Is there a guy in your life that might appreciate recieving one of these cards?? I sent one to my older brother...he didn't think it was too funny!! Hahahaha!! I love it!!
Supplies: Stamps-Borders & Corners{circle}, Beautiful Blooms, Green Thumb, Faux Ribbon (Papertrey Ink); Paper-Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Basic Grey, Ballet Blue, Night of Navy (all Stampin' Up!) Designer Paper (Creative Imaginations); Ink-Versamark, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!); Other-Stickers (Creative Imaginations), kitchen string, black marker, light cardboard, sponge, twill, dimensionals.
Thanks for dropping in.
Donelda

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Yellow Cone Flowers

Yes, cone flowers can be yellow. I looked it up on line. This is such a great image. I love the flowers in yellow with that particular background paper. I think this might just be my favorite card I've yet to make wiht this great smARTworks flower stamp. The flowers are colored in with a paint brush and using my ink pads like a palette. Still my favorite way to color images!!!
Supplies: Stamps-Cone Flowers, Sentiment is from WD-60 (both from smARTworks); Ink-Basic Black, Garden Green, Yoyo Yellow, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa (all Stampin' Up!); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin Up!), designer paper (K&Co.); Other - Dark Chocolate twill (Papertrey Ink), paint brush.
Thanks for dropping in. Have a great day!
Donelda

Monday, December 29, 2008

Inspiration Challenge #160

The Saturday Inspiration Challenge #160 over at Splitcoaststampers was to use the web-based store of MacKenzie-Childs. Well, I popped over to the link and saw the picture of this chair on the main page....and I just knew I had to make a card using it as inspiraiton!! It was just so funky great!!
I started out with the blue and added the harliquin diamonds with a darker blue. The the dots...they were a bit tricky. To get the yellow, I stamped the red cardstock with white craft ink, let it dry and then painted some yellow over top. The black and white was done with white embossing on black cardstock. The yellow is color on color!! I sliced up all my pieces and adheared them down. Then, I cut this label by hand and added this great sentiment. The little embellishment is a bracelet piece but it has these big bumps on the back (where the elastic would go). So, I sliced a hole in the lable so that the bumps would go into the cardstock and glued it down. I adheared the label using dimensionals to accomoadate for the bumps!!
Well, not sure if I like the card in the end but it was a ton of fun to make!! And I have left over scraps so you will likely see them appear on a future card!!
Supplies: Stamps-Print Pattern (retired Stampin' Up!), Finest Flourishes (retired Stampin' Up!) French Flair (retired Stampin' Up!), Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink), Faux Ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Remember (Papertrey Ink); Cardstock-Cranberry Crisp, Basic Black, So Saffron, Ballet Blue (Stampin' Up!); Ink, Basic Black, Whipser White craft, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!), Yellow Ocher (ColorBox), Versamark; Other - black marker (Zig), charm, white embossing powder.
Thanks for dropping by!
Donelda

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Froggy Fun!!

My blogging buddy Susan saw the card in THIS post with the little green frog on it. She commented that she loved that particular stamp and I agree with her ... it is an awesome stamp. That got me to wondering why I don't use it more often...and figured it might have something to do with the need for the frog to be green all the time. Well...that got me to wondering why it had to be green... and that is when the idea for this card was born!!
I sent it off to Susan since she was the one who truely inspired it!! Susan is one of the best writers ever! You have to go read her blog -- there are posts that have me laughing and crying all at the same time!! This is one gal with great insight into this crazy world we live in!! Oh, and did I mention that she also makes great cards, clean and simple style, my favorite!!!
Thanks Susan again for the inspiration! And thanks everyone for dropping in!!
Donelda
Supplies: Stamps-Pond Life (Papertrey Ink), Circle of Friends, retired (Stampin' Up!); Ink-Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, Green Galore, Pixie Pink, Summer Sun, Orchid Opulence, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Paper-Whisper White, Pixie Pink (Stampin' Up!)

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Tin - Gift Holder

Here is the Christmas Tin I made to store my husband's Christmas present in. I am just so excited for him to open it. It is a membership to a nearby golf club. It was so funny because at his staff Christmas Party one of his co-workers was bragging that he had bought the #2 membership at that club. All the boys said, "I wonder who got #1". Well, my hubby has #1 because I was "on the ball" this year and bought it really early. Anyway, I didn't realize how "important" getting the first membership was....now I can't wait for him to open it and see!! Hehehehe!! I can't even stop smiling!! I won't be able to post this until after Christmas because I don't want him to read this (he is very supportive and often checks out my blog ~~ hi honey~~). To make the tin, I first painted the top with a vanilla acrylic paint. Then, I created the bow and snowflake. That snowflake used to be blue (you can see one on THIS card), but I didn't want to do a blue theme, I wanted a shabby look to my Christmas tin with reds and browns. So, I decided to sand off the blue. I wasn't sure if it would work ... but it turned out perfectly!! And you know what one must do to metal...use Alcohol Inks on it, of course (t!m would be proud!!). I used Latte on it, but just a bit so that some of the metal still peeked through!! Then I added that brad in the middle. I saw one like it on THIS project by Suzy and knew I had to replicate it (there are actually 2 similar brads on her page, while I like both, I like the second one best...keep going down the page to the 'gift box gift card holder' section ... and enjoy everything while you are scrolling)!! I used a thin line stamp making it curve a bit (love clear stamps for this reason). Then I used my marker to add some thinner lines. I used a Stampin' Up! build a brad to finish off the creation!! I also added some of SUs new Alpine Originals ribbon ... LOVE IT!! The colors are fab. I cut the read square of cardstock, rounded the corners, and added the swirls using Very Vanilla craft ink. Then, finished it off with some rub on letters for my greeting!! After I had it all put together, I wish I'd done a little sponging around the edge of the red cardstock to pull the shabby look together! Oh well, too late now :-) Supplies: Stamps- Build Your Own Florish (gel-a-tins), Wedding Day (Papertrey Ink); Paper - red (Bazzill), Select White (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Ruby Red, Very Vanilla craft (Stampin' Up!); Other - metal snowflake (Micheals 1.50 bin last Christmas), sand paper, Latte Alcohol Ink (Ranger), Build a Brad (Stampin' Up!), Ruby Red marker (Stampin' Up!), Ribbon Originals Alpine (Stampin' Up!), corner rounder, Purkey letter rub-ons (American Crafts), vanilla acrylic paint, sponge brush, tin (Michaels). Thanks for dropping in for a visit! Donelda

Friday, December 26, 2008

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop - December

That's right!! It is Blog Hop with Papertrey Ink time again!! While the blog hop usually occurs on the 25th of each month, Nichole changed the date to the 26th for obvious reasons! She's one smart gal!! This month, the challenge was to "repurpose leftover holiday trimmings such as christmas cards or gift wrap and create something all new!" I love doing this!! Last year, I used the cardboard from our Christmas dinner crackers to make THESE New Year's cards. And, while we had the same Christmas crackers, I wanted to do something a little different this time (but I did still save some of the cracker packaging ... it is awsome to work with). When I saw the awesome gold packaging from a big red bow, I knew I'd have to do something with that!! In fact, I instantly thought of THIS post from Sharon Johnson and wanted to do a similar project. (ETA - Unfortunately I see that the gold paper didn't actually show up in this picture. You see where the dark color is...just imagine that it is gold...it really is!! If you click on the second little pic it is a little more noticable in there...sorry...photographing metalics is obviously not my forte!! ) I added some gold embossing and white cardstock and ribbon, and voila, an instant wedding card! Supplies: Stamps - Wedding Day, Borders & Corners {Square} (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Versamark; Paper - Select White (Papertrey Ink), Gold (from a red bow package), Other - White organdy ribbon (Stampin' Up!), gold embossing powder (Stampin' Up!). Off to check off all the other Blgo Hop entries!! Thanks for dropping in!! Check in tomorrow and I'll be showing you the tin I decorated to put my hubby's golf membership in! Donelda

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Like many of you, I am enjoying the holiday season with my friends and family! I won't be posting until after Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!! See you all soon! Donelda

Saturday, December 20, 2008

smARTworks Holly Joy

I love this holly sprig with the bells in it!! It is a smARTworks stamp! I stamped the images onto watercolor paper using Archivers Jet Black Ink. That allowed me to use my watercolor pencil crayons on them!!
I doodled around the main image panel to replicate the doodled look of the image. As well, I scored around the green cardstock to finish it off! I got that idea from Dina -- she's so smart! Although it is a bit hard to see in this photo, there is a little bit of the same green in the ribbon! If you click on the picture, you will get a larger view and you will be able to see it better.
Supplies: Image-Jingle All the Way, Joy to the World (smARTworks); Paper-green (Bazzill), Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!), watercolor paper (unknown); Ink - Jet Black (Archiver's); Other-black pen (Zig), dimensionals, ribbon (from my friend Jessica G.! Thanks Jessica), scraper to use for scoring (Pampered Chef).
Thanks for visiting !! Donelda

Friday, December 19, 2008

House Mouse Christmas

I made these cards for my House Mouse friends!! The nicest people in the world are part of the stamping and crafting world. I have met some very nice people through Splitcoaststampers and blogging!! I got this wonderful stamp from my friend Jessica G. last year around Christmas -- Thanks so much Jessica!! I hope each of you have a wonderful holiday season!! Supplies: Stamps - Mistletoe Moment (House Mouse), Holiday Wishes (Papertrey Ink) designer paper (Provo Craft); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), red (Bazzill); Ink - Jet Black (Archivers); Other - prismacolor pencil crayons, Odorless Mineral Spirits, ribbon (from my friend Robin). Thanks for dropping in this evening!! Donelda

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Co-Worker Gift Stockings

These are what I made for the team that I work with!! These ladies are all very special and I wanted to make something special.
I had bought these little stockings last year after Christmas for less than .50 cents!!! BARGIN!! I wanted to put name tags on the stockings. I started out using the large oval in the Wedding Day stamp set. Then, I used Trajan Monogram Ed. to stamp their names. Some of the names were too long to fit into the oval so I had to use a stencil. Next, I added the branch from Take a Bough and added some pine needles. Finished off the tags by adding some small snowflakes and stickles for a bit of bling!!
Next, I made more of Kristina Werner's awesome gift card holders. These are so easy to make!! You can find the template HERE!! And you can find a bunch of different ones I made earlier in the season HERE. I made the base of the holder out of white. I used this Mallard Green Twinkling H2O as "ink" (got the pot really wet and saturated and brushed it onto the stamp with a paint brush) and stamped this holly image onto white cardstock. It looks so cool with the shimmer from the H2Os. But I had a problem!! I didn't have anything that matched this very bright green. So, I decided to paint more white cardstock with the same green Twinkling H2Os to cut out the bottom part of the template. See those cute little holiday brads...I got those last year as a gift from my friend Dawn. I wanted to incorporate them into my holder so I added them in the place that they berries are at. I added some doodling and then some wide burgandy ribbon and they were finished.
Inside these gift card holders, I added a gift card for a store or restuarant that each of my co-workers would appreciate. I also added some other treats in the stockings just for fun!!
I hope they enjoy their gifts.
Supplies: Stamps-Take a Bough, Wedding Day, Trajan Monogram Ed. (Papertrey Ink), Snowflakes, Happiest of Holidays (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Basic Black, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!); Paper (Whisper White); Other - Ribbon (Michael's discount bin), Twinkling H2Os, black marker (Zig), stickles, holiday brad (Dollarama), paint brush.
Thanks for dropping in! Donelda

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

smARTworks Tea Party #8 - Oval

It's that time again!! Time to sit down and have a little tea with my smARTwork friends at the 8th Tea Party!! This time, Peggy set the challenge. She asked us to make our cards' focal image an oval! Well, I just happen to LOVE ovals....so this was a lot of fun for me !!! I actually started the focal part of this card a while ago after seeing THE SECOND CARD in THIS POST made by Dina. She is such an amazing artist and that card just screamed out to me!! I had to try to duplicate it. When I realized that it would fit the challenge, I pulled it back out and finished the entire card. See that strip of patterned paper....it is home-made!! Can you believe it!!?? I can hardly except that I made it myself :-) LOL!!! It is made with a domino pattern repeated over and over. I can see that I am going to use it again and again...in various colors!! (Edited - I had a question about how exactly I made that strip of paper under the oval so here are a few more details. The swirly domino pattern in THE TOP RIGHT SET (DD-18 Patterns) is used repeatedly across a strip of paper. It is essential to use your stamp-a-ma-jig in order to get the edges of the stamp to line up each time. ) The butterfly is cut our and molded to have some dimension. Here is a bit of a side view so you can see it better. Well, once I started with the ovals I couldn't stop!! So I made this second card. I love doing the faux watercolor technique. I'm sure most of you have done it or know about it, but just in case there are a few out there reading this that don't know this great technique....it is so easy you have to give it a try. Simply color onto your stamps using various colors of marker! Once you have all the colors you want on it, lightly spray the rubber stamp with some water. Quickly stamp onto cardstock or watercolor paper. You can let it dry naturally or with your craft heat gun. The rest of the card is pretty obvious. Some designer paper, sponging and a bit of pretty ribbon!! So did you want to come to tea?? If so, feel free to leave a comment on any of the Design Team's blogs and we'll be sure to link you!! You have to go check out what all the other Design Team made: Susan, Dina, Trish, Peggy, and Giovana !! Oh, and look, Donna came to tea !! Supplies: Small Things card: Stamps-Small Things (sentiment), WD-60 (background), FL-18 and Standing Tall (oval background), DD-08 Patterns (strip of paper under oval), BF-04 Sm. Trio (butterfly) (All smARTworks); Paper - River Rock, Very Vanilla, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Ink - River Rock, Basic Black, Versamark, Cranberry Crisp (Stampin' Up!), Other - Oval Coluzzle, paintbrush, Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponge.

Faux Watercolor card: Stamps - FL-20 Standing Tall, DK-10 Looking Collage (smARTworks); Paper- Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!), green designer paper (K&Co.), mustard designer paper (Stampin' Up!); Ink- Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Other - More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); oval Coluzzle, ribbon (unknown), sponge, mist spraybottle.

Thanks for coming to the Tea Party!!! Donelda

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

smARTworks Wreath

Here is another card I made using the Candle Joy set that Susan from smARTworks sent us for the Cookie Challenge. I love holly and especially when it is in a wreath. I made this card using the little holly image. I had to make a mask (stamped the image on a post it note, cut it out) in order to mask various leaves as I did the stamping. It also required a lot of Stamp-a-ma-jiging!! The leaves and berries are colored in using watercolor pencil crayons. Then I added a bit of red glitter from my sons glittery pen. I did a little doodling around the main image, attached some of that yummy Bo Bunny polka dot paper, and a great white bow! Finished it off with a simple Joyful sentiment and a few red pebbles!! Supplies: Stampes-Joy to the World (smARTworks); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), red dots (Bo Bunny); Ink - Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Other - wide white satin ribbon (Michael's), pencil color crayons (Prisma), odorless thinner (gam--s omething or other from Michael's), stubs, red pebbles (Peblo), black marker (Zig). Oh, and don't forget to pop over to smARTworks to check out the special Susan has going on. Shipping on rubber only orders is FREE and shipping on mixed orders is 1/2 the cost (US customers only). Thanks for dropping in. Donelda

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cookie Challenge

So, I am lucky enough to be asked to be a full fledged Design Team member with smARTworks!! Yeah!!! You can check out my gallery over at smARTworks HERE. If you check out the site, you will see that the Cookie Challenge is posted today, Dec. 15th. The Cookie Challenge is so much fun. Susan sends all the members of the Design Team the same stamp set and we all make cards with it and send them back to her. She then posts them all so we can see what everyone did with the same set!
I can't wait to see what everyone else did with the set we had to work with...Candle Joy!! It was a perfect set for the holidays!! Here is what I did with the set:
I've got to tell you that I love this stamp set! The little holly was perfect to use as a background samp. I colored in the images with my watercolor pencil crayons. The stripes at the bottom is a piece of vellum that I found at the local Dollar Store. It went perfectly with this layout and Christmas theme!!
Supplies: stamps-Candle Joy (smARTworks); Paper-Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), red (Bazzill) striped vellum (Dollar Store find); Ink- Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Other-watercolor pencil crayons (Stampin' Up!), Pure Poppy twill (Papertrey Ink).
Drop on over to the smARTworks Cookie Jar and see what all the other Design Team Members did with this set (or most of them have their cards and more posted on their sites)! I'm sure they will know your socks off!! Thanks for dropping in!! Leave me a note and let me kwow what you think!! Donelda

Sunday, December 14, 2008

My Special Day

Well, today is my special day!! And I've got to say, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. When I woke up this morning, I was thinking about what a wonderful life I live. I truely have the best husband in the world!! Someone who loves me for who I am and supports me in everything...my very best friend!! And a wonderful son who makes me so proud!! He is so smart and fun and kind....he means the world to me!! Here is what my hubby got me for my birthday!! WOW!! And look what my son made for me!! This card. He did it all himself!! Check out that layout ... he definately has "the crafty eye"!! And he created that cute little turtle too!! He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He knows my favorite color is green too. I am feeling truely blessed today.... maybe not really feeling older, but definately blessed!! And to top it all off, tonight is the Papertrey Ink release party. Since my husband has to work nights tonight...so we wouldn't be going out anyway, I can think of no better way to spend my birthday evening that browsing with some blogging friends and checking out the latest PTI stuff!! Ahhhh, life is sweet!! Have a GREAT day every, I know I will! Donelda

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Liam's Birthday Frame

Well, I've posted all of the Christmas cards that I can for now. There are still some being delivered and I don't want anyone to see their card here before receiving it in the mail. You know me...it's all about being surprised!! So here is a project I was working on.... I've made one of these for 2 neices and 1 nephew over the last year. You can see them HERE, HERE, and HERE. Liam is the youngest of the crew and I knew that I would use this set from Stampin' Up! called Toy Box (I believe it is retired) for his frame. It is just so much fun for boys!! Remember, you can click on the picture if you want to get a closer look at the coloring! This might just be my favorite - but that is likely because I just finished making it! I love how the ball is bouncing through the letters of his name. The letters are embossed and the ball bouncing dashes are made with my white gel pen. All the images are stamped with waterproof ink and then colored using my watercolor crayons. I've purposely shone the light on the face as I don't have permission to upload his picture. I hope that you don't mind. Well, that is the last name frame! They were fun to make but they were also lots of work. If I ever do a project like this again, I'll do all four at the same time. LOL. Supplies: Stamps-Toy Box (Stampin' Up!), Trajan Monogram (Papertrey Ink); Paper-Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Jet Black (Archivers), Versamark; Other-white embossing powder, white gel pen (Signo), water color crayons (Stampin' Up!). Thanks for dropping in for a visit. Donelda

Friday, December 12, 2008

One more post.. awesome candy

Suzy has the most awesome blog candy give away going...over on her blog papermonkey.org. You have to go and check it out!!!

smARTworks challenge #8 Announcement

I almost forgot to post the next smARTworks Tea Party challenge!!! This time, it is Peggy Lamb who has decided the challenge. She has asked us to place our focal image on an oval! That ought to be easy enough....right??!! Off to get mine started!!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Snowmen and Flocked Circles

Here is one of my FAVORITES of all the different cards I made for Christmas this year!!! Edited - I finally found the supplier of this awesome read paper -- it is by Doodlebug Designs and you can see it HERE. It is velvet flocking! I found this awesome paper at my local scrapbooking store!! It has those awesome flocked circles on it. It looks so awesome in real life. Unfortunately, I can't remember who it is by....anyone out there know?? I used it all up and can't for the life of me remember.... sheesh!! I'll try to find it and edit this post. The card came together easily. I cut the polka dot paper to fit on the white card base. Then, I added a big white bow. Well, I did one bow but it was so fussy that I decided to make the rest with just a knot.... call me lazy!! But that one bow did turn out awesome, eh!! Next, I used my Made of Snow set to build my snowmen! I love the flexibility of this set!! These snowmen can have so many various looks. If you look carefully at the faces of these 3 cards you will see that some of their faces are different!! That is just the beginning!! You must go over to Papertrey Ink and check it out!! I colored in the scarves, buttons, mittens and hat band in red. Then, I used my light grey Prismacolor marker to shade in one side of the snowman. Cut out the snowman. Next, I added that little spirg of holly on the snowman top hat. That little stamp comes from the Borders & Corners {oval} set also from Papertrey Ink. It turned out to be the perfect size to fit on that hat!! I love it when that kind of thing happens!!! Finally, I adheared the snowman with some dimensionals. I really enjoyed making this card. I hope all my family and friends who I sent it to enjoy it also!! Thanks for dropping in for a visit!! Donelda

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Christmas Present for Mom and Dad

My mom and dad live a far way from us and don't get to see their grandson! So, I try to create mini albums for them with various pictures of my son, their grandson, for them to enjoy! Here is the version I created to send them for a Christmas present.
I will leave you various pictures to peruse. I made the album myself. The cover and back are made with some light cardstock. The inside pages are made with white cardstock. I used my Fiskars cutter and template to make the pages this shape!!
Too many supplies to list them all. Stamps used include Birds of a Feather (Papertrey Ink),
Sillouettes (Stampin' Up!), Script background
(Stampin' Up!), Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink),
Thanks for dropping in again!! Donelda

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Christmas Wishes from Santa

My husband and son bought this Stampin' Up Christmas set for me last year for a present. While it is always nice to recieve stamps for Christmas, it is always a bit bittersweet when they are Christmas stamps since I always know that I won't actually be able to use them until the following year!! So I wanted to make sure I pulled this set out to make some cards with them. I stamped the images (Santa and the tree are actually seperate but looked great together) with Adirondack black ink so I could watercolor the image. I used my ink pads and a regular paint brush. I find I have more control over the amount of ink and water that is used with a plain old paint brush vs. an aquapainter. Just my preference. I used my gold Pilot pen to color in Santa's buckle and the trimmings on the tree. I added some blue around the scene too. The rest of the card is pretty straight forward. You might not have noticed but I scored around the patterned paper. I saw this done by Dina and I really liked how it finishes it off!! Thanks for visiting. Donelda

Monday, December 8, 2008

Debbie O Cased Christmas Card

I totally cased this card from Debbie Olson. Didn't change a thing!! Why would I ... it is perfect!!
I made a dozen of these to send out this year! Thanks Debbie for such awesome inspiration!!! Supplies: Stamps - Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink), Peaceful Wishes(Stampin' Up!), Paper - Very Vanilla, River Rock (Stampin Up), red (Bazzill); Ink - River Rock, Cranberry and Ruby Red (mixed to get as close to the red cardstock); Other - brads, corner punch, red glitter gel pen, sponge. Thanks for dropping in! Donelda

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Season's Greetings in red and green

I saw this awesome box decorated by Becky Oehlers and I loved these Christmas decorations!! I decided that I would need to incorporate this idea into a card for giving away.
Here are two versions of the card I made. Which one do you like best??? The bells are popped up on dimensionals. Other than that, it is pretty simple!
Supplies: Stamps-Take a Bough (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Ruby Red, Old Olive, River Rock, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Paper-Whisper White, Old Olive, designer paper (K&Co.), Other- dimensionals.
Thanks for dropping in!!
Donelda

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Christmas present

It really is that time of year. Time to pull out the creative juices and make something fun for those you care about.
My son has an amazing Teacher and an Educational Assistant who works in his class and I really wanted to say a special Merry Christmas to both of them. I bought some of those Jiffy Pop popcorn poppers (you know the ones that you put on the stove and they pop up!! so much fun) and decided to decorate them.
I started out by cutting a large circle of white cardstock. Then, I stamped on the pine trees. Next, I used a torn post it note to mask off the snow and sponged on some Soft Sky and then some Buckaroo Blue closer to the edges and the horizon (Michelle would be so proud). I added some more sponging to make mounds of snow among the trees. You will notice that both have "snow" falling from the sky. On one, I added the snow later by adding some white puffy paint to the sky in dots and also on the tree branches. On the other one, I used my versamark pen and made dots which I then embossed with clear embossing powder. When I sponged over them, they remained white....voila, snow! Added a great Papertrey Ink sentament, a bow, and a tag and I was done. I will attach a movie rental gift certificate to each!
Supplies: Stamps-Snowy Pines (smARTworks), Holiday Wishes (Papertrey Ink); Paper- Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), Ink-Handsome Hunter, Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Other-Versamark, white Puffy Paint (Tulip), tags(Nestabilities), Cuttlebug, white ribbon (Michael's), clear embossing powder, post it notes (3M), sponge, white kitchen string.
So, what are YOU creating???? Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

smARTworks Tea Party #7 - Christmas Ornament

Time for another smARTworks Tea Party (#7). This time Dina challenged us to make a Christmas Ornament!! Well, it took a little thinking on my part but I decided to make a "slide ornament". I got the idea from Splitcoaststampers (where else!!) and used this awesome stamp!! Don't you just love that little mouse!
I stamped him with Jet Black Archial Ink and then colored him in using my watercolor pencil crayons! I attached a holiday themed back and used some silver ribbon (I have no gold) for a loop. It is glued between the image cardstock and the back piece of holiday designer paper. I attached the slide on top using 2-sided tape (red tape) and then dunked the whole thing in some red micro beads!! That was lots of fun!!
Now you have to go see what the other girls from the design team did!!
If you made something you should definately leave a link here or on one of the other design team member's blogs!! We'd love to see what you did!!!
Supplies: Stamps-Jingle All the Way (smARTworks) Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink), Paper-Whisper White (SU!), Ink-Jet Black (Archival Ink), Other-watercolor pencil crayons (Stampin' Up!), paint brush, microscope slide (literally stolen from the microscope we bought for my son at a garage sale), micorbeads (dollar store), 2-sided tape (Art Accentz), silver ribbon (Michael's).
Thanks for dropping in!! And thanks to those who leave me comments, it is awesome to hear what you think!!
Donelda