Wish I May, Wish I Might!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Ok, so this isn't quite a Christmas card but it has a star on it! LOL Gotta count for something right??


Isn't she the sweetest thing you've EVER seen?? Sadly, I don't own this stamp and up until yesterday I didn't know who made it or how I came to own the image. But I did some detective work and figured out that my colorful Canadian friend Paola owns it and it's made by Penny Black. I have to have this stamp! It was such a treat to color up! I just used my SU inks and my aquapainter again and the star was begging for some stickles so I obliged. Wouldn't it be cute if the backgroun was painted up like the night sky with little twinkle lights all around her??

Strange though, I was also listening to Twilight on my IPOD while coloring her up and she didn't turn all dark and thirsty on me! :D Those bunnies are devious I tell ya!!

I have some fun news for you all too; yesterday Jessica Diedrich, of 'The Whimsical Butterfly' fame asked me to be on her daughter Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday Design Team! YAY! Of course I said yes! It's a weekly (Tuesday) sketch challenge drawn by Madelynn herself. Since today is Tuesday, head over to Jessica's blog for her daughter's second only sketch. I'll have my sample to show you tomorrow.

Just an FYI, tomorrow will be my last post this week. I'm taking the rest of the week off for family time. Well, it IS Christmas! LOL Only two more sleeps to go!

Supplies:
Stamps: Penny Black 'On A Star #2307K', Studio G mini alphabet set
Inks: Staz On 'Jet Black', Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Morning Marigold, Creamy Caramel
Paper: Whisper White, Bazzil cs, PP - Basic Grey 'Sugared Collection - Attractive'
Access: Ribbon, stickles, dimensionals

Season's Greetings!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Forgive me if it seems I haven't shown you all a lot of Christmas cards this year. It's because I don't own that many. Infact I think I can count all my Christmas stamps on one hand! I was a little surprised myself, but then I had to remind myself that I only got serious about stamping and making cards back in March of this year and this is my first Christmas stamping, let alone blogging! Through SCS and blogger, I have had my eyes opened to the many wonderful Christmas stamp sets and projects that can be created for the holiday season. Aren't there some amazing and talented people out there?! I hope to be a bit better prepared next holiday season.

I do have a couple of Christmas cards to show you this week though. This particular one uses a stamp I found at Michaels. It's by Hero Arts and it reminded me of the Collage Garden stamp set put out by Stamping Up a few years ago. I bought that set on the BST (Buy, Sell, Trade) forum on SCS earlier in the year because I was so drawn to the style.

I first stamped the image with Staz On 'Timber Brown' onto watercolor paper, then sponged over the image with Distress Inks 'Antique Linen'. Then I ran the edge distresser around the edges of the image and sponged them with the Tea Dye ink. I used True Thyme to color in the leaves, and Cranberry Crisp for the berries. The snow in the little picture was colored using Soft Sky. I stamped out a duplicate of the image, cut it out, covered it in Versamark ink then kaliedescope ep and heat set it. The I popped it on dimensionals for some depth. Then as a final touch, I added stickles to the snowflakes and around the edges of the cardstock for some added sparkle. That oh so yummy ribbon came from my good friend Kelly in Florida. She was my secret santa this year and this ribbon was in the lunch pail she made me. (I'll post a picture of it tomorrow for you.) This card is on it's way to my crazy friend in Canada.

Did everyone survive the weekend? We got nailed with two snowstorms. The first one came Friday afternoon and left 6 -8 inches and flurried all Saturday. It didn't let up yesterday and I think we got 12 inches! Hopefully there isn't any more of the white stuff in the forecast before Christmas!

Only three more sleeps until Christmas!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hero Arts 'Collage Season's Greetings K4827'

Inks: True Thyme, Soft Sky, Cranberry Crisp, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye', versamark

Paper: Canson Watercolor, Bazzil cs, PP - Basic Grey 'Aged and Confused Collection - Vintage Floral'

Access: Ribbon, Stickles, dimensionals, Zig pen, Kaliedescope ep, Tim Holtz edge distresser

A Non Traditional Chrissy!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Good Morning, Good Morning!

Lord do I feel ten times better this morning than I did last night! Remember how I said that yesterday was my work Christmas party/late lunch/early dinner? Well, the fish burger I ordered didn't sit well in my stomach and by 9pm I was hugging the white porcelain! Blah! It definitely wasn't the one pint of Munich beer I had - that tasted good! That's my reason for the late posting today.

Today's challenge (HSC48) on Hanna Stamps is to create a non-traditional Christmas card. This can be done either by using non-traditional colors or by using a regular set and making it Christmassy (Is that a word? It should be!).

I might get the buzzer for this card because it has some red in it, but I thought the majority of the colors weren't very traditional. When making this card, I very quickly realised that the only 'Christmassy' Hanna Stamps set I own is the Ski Bunny set! Ummm ahh! That's so bad! LOL But I made the most of it and used the cuppa cocoa with this fun paper from SEI. If you click on the image, you'll notice that the scalloped panel is not a nestibility but two punched scalloped squares from my Marvy punch. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone, but I don't own a Cuttlebug or any nesties! I improvise!

I came up with two cards for this challenge because I wanted to try using a 'regular', non-Christmas stamp and make it fit the season. The layout for this card is the work of a VERY talented 8 year old girl, Madelynn. She is the daughter of Jessica Diedrich, better known as The Whimsical Butterfly. I thought it was so amazing that she came up with her own sketch for her mum that I couldn't resist playing! So this is my card for Madelynn's Terrific Tuesday Sketch!

I found the main stamp at Michaels, and I believe it's by Stampendous. The scarf is from Hanna Stamps 'Ski Bunny' set. Christmas is beginning to feel a bit like a rollercoaster for me! I kept these cards simple because the patterned papers are so busy.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. We have some more Christmas shopping to do, gymnastics with DD and maybe another round of baking. It's going to be a busy one that's for sure! Toodles!

Supplies:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps! 'Ski Bunny', Inkadinkadoo 'Rollercoaster - 97938'
Inks: Staz On 'Jet Black', Soft Sky, Real Red, Cranberry Crisp, Vintage Violet, Creamy Caramel
Paper: Bazzil cs, Georgia Pacific cs, PP - SEI Holiday Hoopla 'Merry Messages/Rowdy Rudolph', (Polka dot pp from Michaels - unknown)
Access: Ribbon, dimensionals, square scalloped punch, circle punches, paper piercer, zig pen, micron pen

Twilight Bunnies!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Well, not quite, but that's my explanation on why this card looks a little 'dark'. I was listening to the first Twilight audio book on my IPOD and nothing seemed odd about what I was creating until I had finished the card and stood back from it. Then it dawned on me that my bunnies looked a bit pale and vampire-ish. Ooops!

The bunny is from Pink Poison's 'Wonderland' set. I stamped the middle bunny first, then the two outer bunnies next. Then I created two masks from post it notes by overlaying one of the bunnies with a post it note and traced around him with my exacto knife. Then I covered the middle bunny and one of the outer bunnies with the masks and stamped the bunny thats between them. I continued this until I was happy with the number of bunnies. You can use this masking technique with your flower stamps to create a garden full of them!

We have our work Christmas linner (late lunch, early dinner) at 3pm today. With all the deadlines and people leaving on vacation, this was all we could squeeze in! Anyone else having a Christmas party at their work?

Hope you all have a painless Thursday! :D

Supplies:
Stamps: Pink Poison/The Greeting Farm's 'Wonderland', SU 'Jumbo Wheel'
Inks: Staz On 'Jet Black', Soft Sky, Vintage Violet, Morning Marigold, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Bazzil cs, PP - Crate Paper 'Samantha Collection - IVY'
Access: Brads, dimensionals

Happy Hump Day!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

How's everyone doing today??

Thanks for leaving comments on your Christmas traditions. I loved reading them. Carolyn and Lori - your traditions definitely humbled me.

Anyone traveling this Christmas? Thankfully, we don't have to travel far for Christmas morning. My inlaws live a hop, skip and a jump from us. Our Christmas evening will be at my husband's Aunt's house in Westfield, Massachusetts so we have about a 1.5 hr drive. My sister in law's parents are traveling from Calgary, Canada to visit their daughter, my brother and my parents in Australia this year. I bet Christmas in the heat will be a bit of a shock to the system! LOL

This card is for all those who may be traveling across country this holiday season. If I had been a bit more on the ball (or less deprived of sleep) when I made this over the weekend I would have added a Christmas tree to the top of the trailer! I was just too busy enjoying being creative again that I wasn't thinking ahead. Riley is traveling to his Christmas destination....hopefully somewhere warm! He's a moose, I know, but he's not your average moose! Maybe he's headed to the Bahamas? Ooo! Yes please!

Did anyone notice my new Hanna Stamps watermark?? I'm so excited to have it!! Beth Silaika of Frecked and Fun fame (and another Hanna girl) made it for me! You may have noticed my general watermark I've started using too. I tinkered around with Photoshop at work (shhhh!) and created that one. It's by no means as special as my Hanna one, but it'll do for now.

Hope everyone one has a happy Wednesday!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hanna Stamps! 'Trailer Riley' and 'Van Riley'

Inks: Staz On 'Jet Black', Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'

Paper: PP - Junkitz 'Destinations Paperz "0359-Mini Icons"

Access: Twill ribbon, circle punches, decorative scissors, dimensionals

Christmas traditions

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Do you have any Christmas traditions in your family?

When I was growing up we did the usual Christmas traditions like leaving a plate of biscuits (cookies) and a glass of milk out for Santa and those infamous Christmas crackers would come out at dinner. When I moved to the US, I introduced the crackers to my husband's family who had never heard of them! Now they're on the table every year. Christmas Eve is usually spent at either our place or at a BIL's house. A couple of years ago we discovered that the kids could 'track Santa' on Christmas Eve too! Here's the LINK.

Another tradition we started last year with our daughter was the 'Elf on a Shelf'. Have you heard of this? I heard about it last year and snapped up a copy of the book and the elf! You introduce the book to the kids after Thanksgiving time and the story goes that Santa sends an elf to every boy and girl to watch over them. Then at night, while they sleep, the Elf flies home to the North Pole to report to Santa on whether the child has been naughty or nice. And when he returns the next morning, he sits in a different location around the house and the kids have to find him. My three year old adores him and really gets a kick out telling the elf what she wants for Christmas!


Here's a card I made for a dear friend of mine. She generously sent me some more wonderful Magnolia images which I could not wait to color up!! I wanted to make her a Christmas card with one of the images but not have it appear too 'Christmassy', know what I mean?

I used some double sided SEI paper that had the polka dots on one side and the tulips on the other. I just layered it on some Bazzil cardstock and popped the image on some pop dots for a 3D effect. Then I went looking for a Christmas sentiment and couldn't find anything that fit the space beside the Magnolia image. So I made up one with the Studio G mini alphabet stamps I have from Michaels. It works doesn't it? hahahhaa I used SU's Real Red and Cranberry Crisp on her dress to give it some depth. I faux stitched the edges because my sewing machine is packed away.

Hope my friend likes it! Only 9 days until Christmas now - holy cow! Where the heck did this year go?? See you all tomorrow!


Supplies:
Stamps: Magnolia, Studio G Mini Alphabet set
Inks: Staz On 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Cranberry Crisp, Certain Celery
Paper: Bazzil cs, PP - SEI 'Winnies Walls' - "Playful Pansies"
Access: Ribbon, dimensionals, Martha Stewart edge punch, paper piercer, Zig pen, White Signo pen

Good Morning!!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Did ya miss me?? Well, I sure missed you guys! I'm so very glad that last week is behind me and I can get back to the fun festivities of this holiday season! Thank you for all your patience and your well wishes. They were so nice to read during all those hours at work. I got over the worst part of my cold last weekend and spent the rest of the week barely squeaking out a conversation without ending up in a coughing fit. That was better than the head cold I had earlier! Anyway, I ended the week with 66 hours on my time sheet which my bank account will appreciate heading into this week. I still have most of my Christmas shopping to do! Eek!

Anyways,...enough about me, how about a card? This is the newly released set by Pink Poison, who will be formally changing it's name to 'The Greeting Farm' on January 1st, 2009. I don't work for them, but I thought you ought to know in case you google it in the new year.


Isn't she the most sweetest thing you've ever seen?? Those eyes are gorgeous! And the 'shrooms?! The set is called Wonderland. It arrived the Friday before last and sat uninked until this weekend. I hate that! But it was worth the wait because this set is a joy to color! I popped Alice's head on dimensionals as well as the shroom. Some days I struggle with picking paper, but not the day I made this card! The set is very animated to me, so I went straight to my Sassafras Lass paper. It's very colorful and can be a little intimidating to use, but a little bit goes a long way!

Ahhh! I feel so much better now that I've created something! Thanks for sticking with me last week. It really means a lot. I noticed that I have a few new blog friends now. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some inspiration here or even a smile or two. Soooo glad to be back!

Supplies:
Stamps: Pink Poison/The Greeting Farm 'Wonderland'
Inks: Staz On 'Jet Black', Morning Marigold, Creamy Caramel, Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Vintage Violet
Papers: Canson watercolor, Bazzil cs, Sassafras Lass 'Life is Beautiful' - "My Dearest", Dream Street 'Enchanted' - "Wish Upon A Star"
Access: Velvet ribbon, dimensionals