Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day to everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful day with your family yesterday, if you celebrate Christmas.  We had a very lovely day here — the kids surprisingly were not up at the crack of dawn.  Prior to going to bed (willingly, mind you!) on Christmas Eve, my son told me he was going to wake me up and I would have to get up early.  Guess who was the first one awake?  Not my son, but me!  LOL!

Today I have the card I made for my Christmas card making get-together last month.  I thought I had designed a CAS card, but my friends will tell you it was missing the Simple.  LOL!

My Memory Box window dies had been sitting, neglected for quite some time and I have seen so many lovely cards made with them. I decided to go with a mainly white card with those muted pops of green.  I stamped the Impression Obsession tree in green ink on my white card base — masking it slightly to keep the star and base from peeking out of the window.  The swirled ribbon is glittered with Holo Iridescent and some rhinestone centers of the snowflakes.  While the ribbon dried, I added acetate to my window die cut and punched out curtains from designer paper — using my oval punch, cutting 4 half ovals.  Once the ribbon was dry, I put the window down, popping it up on dimensionals.  A simple sentiment of Merry Christmas was stamped under the window.

Challenge Submissions
Creative Belli — #185 Christmas

Merry Christmas: Impression Obsession Winter Wonderland Tree, Paper Pretties sentiment; Gina K Pure Luxury, Best Creations Christmas papers; Memento green ink; rhinestones, holo iridescent

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

HYCCT1321 Blue Swirled Christmas

Happy Friday!  Any fun plans for the weekend?  We actually have a lot planned.  Tonight is a dance at the kids’ school.  Tomorrow is packing for troops with Girl Scouts and soccer.  Sunday is a big football day.  Lots to do!

Today’s HYCCT card is for the Elvis inspired challenge.  Obviously, there are a LOT of options with Elvis’ prolific song catalog.

As you can see, I went with Blue Christmas.  I stamped my Impression Obsession Winter Wonderland Tree in Memento Danube Blue and cut it out with the largest Labels 18 die.  To keep it CAS, I embossed my Brilliant Blue panel with D’vine Swirls.  The image is popped up and then embellished with Holo Iridescent on the ribbons and lots of little rhinestones to complete it.  I love how it sparkles!

Challenge Submissions
HYCCT1321
Holly Jolly Christmas — O’ Christmas Tree
Ribbon Carousel — RCC87 Holidays & Celebrations

Blue Swirled Christmas
Stamps: Impression Obsession Winter Wonderland Tree
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury, Brilliant Blue
Ink: Memento Danube Blue
Copics: 
Other Stuff: Nesties Labels 18, rhinestones, Holo Iridescent, ribbon, Cuttlebug D’vine Swirls

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Sending Sunshine & Joy

I have to admit I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this week’s Impression Obsession challenge for shades of green. For one thing, I have only a handful of IO stamps and a number of them are clearly Valentine’s or Christmas or New Year’s. When I looked at my collection of stamps, process of elimination gave me the cute Gumball Machine stamp. I’m sure many of us are dreaming of beaches & summer now!

I wanted this to be a bright and cheery card, so I picked Green Galore and Gable Green. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it with Copics. The sand is Martha Stewart Florentine Gold glitter. Each beach ball has a little touch of Emerald Green Liquid Pearls on the tops, as well as the top of the gumball machine and handle. While the Liquid Pearls dried, I embossed the Gable Green with the Spots & Dots folder and added three rows of satin-edged organdy ribbon. I popped up the gumball machine panel on dimensionals and added the sentiment. As a last touch, I covered the globe of the machine with Diamond Glaze and left it to dry over night.

I love how this turned out. It makes me smile, which is exactly what I had hoped for.

Sending Sunshine & Joy
Stamps: Impression Obsession Gumball Machine, Sunshine & Joy
Paper: Green Galore, Gable Green, Select White (PTI)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: C3, C9, E11, E41, G00, G05, Y11, YG03, YG06, YG11
Other Stuff: Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder, satin-edge organdy ribbon, Diamond Glaze, Liquid Pearls Emerald Green, Martha Stewart Florentine Gold glitter

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Pink Candy Jars

My first Impression Obsession stamp was Leigh Hannan’s Candy Jars. I love the old fashioned candy and the unlimited color possibilities to go with it. Today I went with pink for a Valentine’s card. Impression Obsession’s challenge this week is to make a shaped card. Now, I feel like I am stretching that a bit since it is still kind of rectangular, but not a true rectangle.

I think this is about as pink as it gets! I went with 3 pink Copics – RV10, RV23 and RV25 and went to town coloring. Since this image is so big, I was limited in my Nestie selection. I picked out the two largest Labels 8 Nesties to cut out the image and then the card base. The card base is Raspberry Fizz from PaperTrey Ink and is embossed with Swiss Dots. When I embossed the image panel, it didn’t come out very well. I need to get the larger embossing pads. To make the edge stand out a bit more, I traced around with my RV25 marker and then topped it off with Pink Shimmerz.

To bling up the candy, I added Stickles to the rock candy. The jar lids have a bit of shimmer from Pink and Bubblegum Shimmerz. The sentiment is also from Impression Obsession and is stamped in VersaMark and embossed with clear embossing powder. A cute little double bow in Raspberry Fizz satin was the final touch.

Pink Candy Jars
Stamps: Impression Obsession Candy Jars, Life is Sweeter
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, Select White (PTI)
Ink: VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: RV10, RV23, RV25
Other Stuff: Raspberry Fizz Satin ribbon, clear embossing powder, Labels 8 Nesties, Modern Tag Punch, Stickles Cotton Candy, Fruit Punch, Worn Lipstick; Shimmerz Pink and Bubblegum

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Snowman Boogie

Have you ever gotten out of your routine and then been so thankful to be back in it? That is how I am feeling. I am so thankful to have our normal routine back again. The kiddos are back in school this week and it is making such a difference.

Today I have a fun card for you. This will actually be going to a friend whose birthday was last week, but I missed getting the card out because of being gone.

Isn’t that image fun? It is Impression Obsession’s Snowman Boogie. I thought it was so cute and a great image for a winter birthday card. I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored in the scarves, hats and outlined each snowman’s side with blue. Then I covered the entire panel in Dazzling Diamonds.

The panel is mounted on a piece of Bashful Blue, which was embossed with the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder. I added some pretty snowflake ribbon from Michaels and two snowflakes punched with the Martha Stewart snowflake punch. The sentiment is computer generated and cut out with Nesties.

Snowman Boogie Birthday Wishes
Stamps: Impression Obsession Snowman Boogie
Paper: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Select White (PTI)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: G85, E71, B06, B12, YR07
Other Stuff: Martha Stewart Snowflake punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder, rhinestones, ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Raspberry Blush Margarita

Happy New Year! A bit late, I know, but I have been gone since New Year’s Day and just got back today. Unfortunately, my New Year started out on a sad note with my Grandpa passing away on New Year’s Day, before we arrived. His health deteriorated very quickly the last two weeks of his life and although I am sad to be without him, his quality of life was lost in those last weeks. It was a rotten way to go home, but it was great to see my family again. After the services, our trip was delayed by snow. Our trip out was horrible — we ran into lake effect snow in Indiana and it added a good 2 hours to our trip. We took an alternate route back to bypass the lake effect areas and it was just far too long. I’m very happy to be home and am trying to get things organized. I had some fun mail waiting for me so I hope to get some crafting time in this week.

The Impression Obsession challenge this week is love or spring. I had made this card up before I left, in anticipation of this challenge. It was a great switch from Christmas colors.

I chose the fun Valentine’s Margarita image for my card. I love the floating hearts and the XO salted rim. I colored the image with Copics first and then cut it out with rectangle Nesties. The image is double-matted on Raspberry Fizz and Sweet Blush rectangles from PaperTrey Ink. This is then mounted on the super yummy Simple Valentine designer paper from PaperTrey Ink.

Of course, this image needed some bling. I added Liquid Pearls in Petal Pink to the very base of the wine glass. Then I brushed over the “liquid” of the drink with Pink Shimmerz and added Xmas Red Stickles to the small dots in the liquid, as well as to the cupcake. More Stickles, in Cotton Candy, were added to the tips of the arrow. My favorite bling is the Dazzling Diamonds over the XOXO “salt” on the rim. It really sparkles IRL. Finally, I added a pretty bow of Raspberry Fizz satin ribbon. The sentiment is from IO as well and is stamped in Raspberry Fizz ink.

Raspberry Blush Margarita
Stamps: Impression Obsession Valentine’s Margarita, I {heart} you!
Paper: PaperTrey Ink Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush, Select White, Simple Valentine designer paper
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Raspberry Fizz
Copics: RV25, R24, R29, RV04, RV10
Other Stuff: Raspberry Fizz satin ribbon, Petal Pink Liquid Pearls, Cotton Candy and Xmas Red Stickles, Pink Shimmerz, Nestabilities, Dazzling Diamonds

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

A Trio of New Year Wishes

I’d like to wish you all a very happy & healthy New Year! Unfortunately, I am ushering 2009 out and 2010 in on a sad note. My beloved Grandpa is in renal failure and we are leaving very bright and early tomorrow morning for home. I am hoping to arrive home before it is too late. We have about a 14 hour drive ahead of us with two small kiddos, so I am going to keep this post short. Whatever your plans for this evening, please be safe & hug your loved ones tightly.

A few weeks ago, Impression Obsession ran their annual sale and I picked up a few images. I really love the style of these New Year’s or party images. For all three of these cards, I went with a simply striking color combo of black & silver.

First up is my first long card using the New Year’s Eve image.

I used one of the two Pink Elephant sketches for this week. Because there is so much going on in this image, I kept things rather simple. I colored my image in with Copics and once I finished all of the party details, I went over the glass and bottle shapes with my R00 marker to give the shade of champagne. The image is cut and embossed with a Labels 3 Nestie. I painted the edges with Silver Fox Smooch and added a coat of Silver Bells Shimmerz over the top of that. The silver is from Stardream Metallics and is embossed with Swiss Dots. The ribbon is gorgeous & yummy black & silver reversible satin May Arts ribbon.

Next up is the second Pink Elephant sketch for this week and the Party image from IO.

This ribbon just screamed “Happy New Year 2010!” to me. I used the same Copic colors in this image. To add a bit more of glitz, I used two Sticky Stars from Jody for the larger stars and added Martha Stewart glitter on them. More May Arts ribbon and Cuttlebug embossing added to the elegance of this card.

Last up is the Celebration image with Mercy’s (MTSC54)sketch for this week.

Again, I followed the same colors and same embossing choices. I added Stickles to the bottle swirls — unfortunately, my card was tipped over before the Stickles were completely dried and they smeared a bit.

Trio of New Year Wishes
Stamps: Impression Obsession Celebration, Party, Let’s Celebrate, New Year’s Eve
Paper: Basic Black, Stardream Metallic Silver, Select White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Copics: Y00, RV10, R00, V12, B00, V15, RV25, E000, R21,C3, E71, B06, R24, R20, B12, B000, W1, RV23, C1, C0
Other Stuff: Martha Stewart glitters Charoite, Sterling, Feldspar, Kunzite; May Arts ribbon, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and D’vine Swirls embossing folders; Labels 3 and Oval Nesties, Fancy Tags, Silver Bells Shimmerz, Silver Tinsel Stampendous Stamp Stuff, Silver Fox Smooch, Silver Stickles, Sticky Stars, Bow Easy

Okay, so that wasn’t so short! LOL! Thank you so much for stopping by today! Happy New Year!

Silver & White Elegance

I’m counting down the days — not until Christmas, but until we get our new boiler. It is getting colder and we are still without heat. We get our new boiler installed on Wednesday. Tuesday we get our new water heater. My husband equated them to an old couple who have been married for 50+ years. Once one dies, the other is lost and dies shortly after. Hopefully, we will see lots of increased efficiency & some savings after they are both installed.

I’ve wanted to participate in an Impression Obsession challenge for awhile, but had only one stamp to chose from. I had a few stamps I was eying and finally ordered a few the other week. The challenge this week was to make a white card. Immediately, I knew I wanted to use the Winter Wonderland tree. I remember seeing a card with this image last year and falling in love with it.

I stamped my tree using ColorBox silver ink and set it aside to dry. While that dried, I matted a piece of white, embossed with D’vine Swirls, on a piece of Stardream Metallics Silver. I spritzed the white with Baby’s Breath Shimmerz Spritz, which gives a really pretty and subtle sheen to it. After the tree was dry — I learned the hard way to make sure and wait — I ran it through my Cuttlebug with the second largest Labels 8 Nestabilities die. Using Silver Fox Smooch, I painted the embossed edge to make it pop a bit more.

To highlight the tree, I painted the garland with Silver Bells Shimmerz and added a few rhinestones to the larger snowflakes, along with Silver Stickles to the smaller ones. The final touch before mounting the tree was to add some pretty silver ribbon I had purchased at Michaels. You can’t see it completely, but there are swirls and snowflakes on the ribbon, making it the perfect touch for this card. I just love the elegance of this tree and the card is “oh so pretty” according to my daughter. 🙂

Silver & White Elegance
Stamps: Impression Obsession Winter Wonderland Tree
Paper: Select White (PTI), Stardream Metallic Silver
Ink: ColorBox Silver
Other Stuff: Silver Stickles, Silver Bells Shimmerz, Baby’s Breath Shimmerz Spritz, ribbon, Cuttlebug D’vine Swirls embossing folder,

Thanks so much for stopping by!