Tall Warm Winter Wishes with a Wide Ribbon

Here's my tall card for the Limited Supplies challenge over on Split Coast. I made my card 8x4.

I used two different snow theme designer papers and this cute stitched snowman from the Sewing Box Christmas Set by Waltzingmouse Stamps . I stamped snowflakes from the set and punched them out with a circle punch then stamped the words over them. (not sure if you can see the green snowflakes on the green paper in the pic but you can IRL! click on the picture to see it a little bigger) I highlighted the snowflakes with some dots using a white gel pen.

I stamped the snowman on a Spellbinders tag - then stamped him on white. I cut out the snowman on the inside line and layered over the tag with foam dimensionals.

I colored him with Copics. The great ribbon is from Sharon's No Time to Stamp Ribbon Shop. I also used this weeks Split Coast sketch for my card.

It was fun making a different size card for a change but I will have to make a special envelope to fit it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps: Sewing Box Christmas
Paper: White - PTI, Sage Shadow - SU, DP - Imaginisce/Snowy Joe, My Minds Eye - Be Merry jolly snowmen
Ink: Memento tuxedo Black, Chamomile - PTI
Accessories: Scalloped tags - spellbinders, wide grosgrain ribbon - Sharon's No Time to Stamp Ribbon Shop, White gel pen, copics: T2, T6, E40, BG10, R20, foam dimensionals, zutter corner rounder, circle punch

Wrapping a Tree

Today's fun Inspiration Challenge on Split Coast was a web site of wrapping papers - here is the paper I was inspired by:

And here is the Christmas card I created from the inspiration.

I used the sweet winter tree from 'A Tree for All Seasons' retired Stampin Up set and punched circles with my hole punch to decorate it with. I added some shimmer to the circles, snow and snowman with my silver Spica pen. I cuttled the background with the Swiss Dots folder and used my Spellbinders ribbon tag die for the Papertrey Ink sentiment. The pink threaded ribbon is by Amuse. The image and sentiment are both up on foam dimensionals. This is a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 card.

Thanks Anne (itsapassion) for guest hosting today and also for the wonderful inspirations!! Another Christmas card done!

Just a little toot of my own horn: if any of you get the Stampers Sampler magazine - one of my cards was published in the Dec/Jan 2009 Issue on page 55. 'Health and Longevity' It was chosen as a sample of using grid blocks on your card.

Hope you all have a great weekend - thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: A tree for all Seasons: SU, Sentiment: Silent Night: PTI
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, cranberry crisp, pretty in pink, bordering blue: SU, White: PTI
Ink: Onyx black versafine
Accessories: pink stitched ribbon: Amuse, foam dimensionals, cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, prismacolor markers, silver spica, spellbinders ribbon tag, hole punch

Frosty Mugs & Cozy Wishes

I made this card for the Featured Stamper Challenge on Split Coast.

I chose this Merci card from Featured Stamper, ebethneu, to CASE I used different stamps and a different color scheme but I used her nice sketch.


These cute mug-hatted snowmen are from an Artful INKables set called Frosty Mug Mates and the beautiful big snowflake is from a set called Paper Snowflakes. I used the non-traditional snow flake colors in my designer paper to decide what colors to use on my images. I used re-inkers and an aquabrush to color them. I went over a lot of areas with my Spica gold pen for a little sparkle!


You can get 10% off your total Artful INKables order by using this code: save10JA - so jump right over there and get your order in!


thanks for stopping by today!!


Stamps: Artful INKables: Frosty Mug Mates & Paper Snowflakes
Paper: water color paper, Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, Naturals Ivory: SU, DP: Imaginesce - Snowy Jo
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Ruby Red, Soft Sky: SU, onyx Black versafine
Accessories: sponge, aquabrush, snowflake brad, gold Spica Pen, snowflake punch: Martha Stewart, foam dimensionals

Frosty Mug Mates Tree Box

What a fun new technique challenge this week on Split Coast! A Christmas Tree Box. Look here for the template and tutorial.

I used two new sets from Artful INKables to decorate my tree box: Frosty Mug Mates and Paper Snow Flakes and you can get 10% off these stamps and everything else you purchase on Kristin's site by using the code save10JA so be sure to hop over there and save some money while buying those stamps you just have to have!!

This little box actually opens up and you could put some little candy treats inside or some rolled up cash!! It's about 3" tall

I also used bleach on the snowman and tree for my weekly Double Dare Challenge that I do with some SCS friends - Francie G was the hostess this week and using bleach on a card was her challenge to us. The way you do that is first you emboss the image - that sort of 'seals' the edges of the image. I embossed these images using black embossing powder. Then you use a small paint brush and dip it in bleach and 'paint' over the image and it will 'bleach' out the color of the card stock. Be sure to rinse out the brush as soon as you are done so the bleach doesn't eat the bristles! The bleach turned the card stock brown on the Hunter green tree and turned it white on the Baja breeze snowman.

You can see the other bleached challenge cards here.

I used some pretty silver ribbon from Papertrey Ink for my hanger. And I added red dew drops for a touch of color. The images are up on foam dimensionals. Instead of stars on the top (as per the tutorial) - I used showflakes that I cut out. This side view shows how the flakes are attached to each other to form a circle - I put 3 together and just slipped them down the ribbon onto the top of the tree - you have to move them up to open the box.

I hope you try one of these - they are really easy and fun to make!

thanks for coming by to visit today!!

Stamps: Frosty Mug Mates, Paper Snow Flakes: Artful INKables
Paper: Baja breeze, handsome Hunter: SU
Ink: Pacific point: SU
Accessories: bleach, paint brush, versamark embossing pad, not gun black detail EP, dew drops, foam dimensionals, glue dots

Fun is in the Air!

Here is my card for today's sketch challenge on Split Coast as well as the OCC challenge - 'all about coloring' seen here.I used a fun new stamp set by Artful INKables called Snow Play and colored my image with copics. I don't have many copics yet and don't really know how to use them - but I'm trying and hope to go to a class on them soon. I just love what I see other people doing with them. I think I'm not patient enough to color with skill yet! (I'm always in a rush it seems!)


I used my new Nestability Labels One dies and Martha Stewart snowflake punch.


If you'd like to order any Artful INKable stamps such as this fun new set - use this code to get 10% off your total order save10JA

Also! Please check out the H&M Blog hop here - you can win some fun prizes by participating - deadline is Friday 11/7/08.

Stamps: Snow Play: Artful INKables
Paper: white, ripe avocado: PTI, Real Red: SU, DP: DCWV Christmas Stack
Ink: onyx black Versafine
Accessories: Copics, foam dimensionals, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, word window punch & designer label punch: SU, hole punch,

A Silent Snowman

My card today is for the Limited Supplies challenge over at Split Coast - to use a snowman on your card. Hostess Jeanne S thought it would help us forget about the summer heat if we pulled out a snowman stamp! I got out this Silent Night Snowman from Stupendous that I've had for a couple of years and often use on Christmas cards.

I matched him up to this perfect designer paper from the Die Cuts With a View Christmas Stack. The paper is actually a 12x12 sheet for a scrapbook page with reindeer jumping around on this snowy field but I just used this plain corner of it for my card. I liked the way it has a ground area to set my snowman on.

I colored the snowman with my copics (thanks to yesterday's SCS challenge to use Copics! See my Thomas Kinkade card below on yesterday's post) and watercolored the sky on the image using re-inker and my aquapainter. I added a dew drop over the star.

I liked the simplicity of this scene - so I just added the dotted ribbon under the panel and dotted some stickles over the snow in the sky (which you can't really see in the picture!)

A fun cool challenge on a hot summer day! and I got one Christmas card done - yay! - now only about 49 more to go!!!

Stamps: Stampendous
Paper: white: PTI, Black: SU, DP: Die Cuts With A View - Christmas Stack
Ink: Onyx black versafine, Bashful Blue reinker
Accessories: aquapainter, copics, dew drop, glue dot, foam adhesive, blue dotted ribbon: Michaels, Crystal ice stickles

A Summer Snowman and a Shadowed Bloom

I made this Magnolia snowman card using Lauren Meader's Saturday Sketch seen here.

I just LOVE Magnolia stamps and this snowman is just so cute!! I used Prismacolor markers to color him and I paper pieced his scarf by stamping the scarf on the designer paper - cutting it out and attaching it over the image stamped on the white card stock

Paper: white: PTI, DP's - Basic Grey: archaic, The Paper Company: Starburst Translucent
Ink: onyx black Versafine
Accessories: foam dimensionals, Prismacolor Markers

I made this second card for the featured stamper challenge over at Split Coast. I had not visited Teneale's gallery before and she has some lovely cards there! I decided to CASE this pretty card. The things I changed: different stamp used, different colors of ink, ribbon and brads - I kept the design the same.

I used a flower from the new Plant Prints set from Artful INKables and stamped it once then again, a little to the right, without re-inking to give the shadow effect.


Kristin is offering 10% off all her Artful INKable stamp sets for the month of July - so be sure to check it out! Might as well save money while you're buying some fun stamps right??!!

We are enjoying our last day at the lake today - Here are a few pictures from our week here.

DH Kent and neighbors work on the lake right-of-way clearing the path and placing the boulders they pulled up against the road area to help stop soil erosion.

We got a scenic ride to the Marina on Kent's cousins Party Barge where we got some delicious ice cream.

A mother duck and her 6 ducklings come up on our cousins lawn every evening to pick up some easy food dropped from her bird feeders.
Thanks for coming by and have a great Sunday!

Stamps: Artful INKables: Plant Prints, Basic Salutations
Paper: White: PTI, Sage Shadow & Blue Bayou - SU
Ink: Blue Bayou: SU, onyx black Versafine
Accessories: foam dimensionals, brads: Making Memories, ribbon: Michaels

A Trifecta and A Summer Snowman in the Sand

This is my Trifecta card - I made it for 3 different challenges! First - it is the color challenge on Split Coast - to use Kraft, Soft Sky and Basic Black.

It also is the Saturday Sketch Challenge over at Our Creative Corner. And number 3 - it is for the weekly Double Dare Challenge I do with a small group of SCS friends. That challenge was hosted by Joan Ervin this week and her instructions were to make a summer card using flowers and birds. You can see all the Double Dare challenge cards here.

I don't usually like combining challenges like that as I get so focussed on the rules of each one I lose my creativity (Stef was just talking about that on her blog today) But I had the vision of what I wanted to do with this and it all came together for me today!

The black panel is dry embossed with the distressed stripes Cuttlebug folder but you can't see it too well. The flowers are Stampin Up rub ons. The bird is from Amuse and the sentiment is Stampin Up - and they are up on foam dimensionals. I punched the scallop edge with my corner rounder with the guide piece taken off.

I made the inside sentiment on my computer - printed it out and punched it with my scallop punch.

Stamps: So Many Scallops, Bird: Amuse Clear Nature Set
Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Soft Sky: SU
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: SU Rub Ons, foam dimensionals, distressed stripes Cuttlebug folder, corner rounder, circle scallop punch
And here is another Snowman card that I made for my friend at work who sends them to her friend in Florida. This is for Danielle's June birthday - so it is a beach snowman!


I colored the image with my new Koh-I-Noor woodless colour pencils and gamsol. The pretty designer paper is for Peeps Sake by Imaginese and has a shimmer to it. The Happy Birthday is by Verve Visual and the name is done with Karen Foster Snap Stamps.

I stamped a cupcake by Lockhart Stamps - cut it out and layered it on the arm of the chair with foam dimensionals. I added red stickles on the cherry.

I stamped a Birthday verse from PapertreyInk and a pile of snowballs by Stamps By Judith on the inside.

You can see all my snowman cards by clicking on Snowmen in the index on the right column.
Thank you for stopping by today! I'd love to have you leave a comment for me!
Stamps: Happy Birthday - Verve Visual, Snowman in chair: A Country Welcome - Taking a Break, Cupcake: Lockhart Stamps, Danielle: Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: Soft Sky, Basic Black - SU, White PTI, DP: Imaginese: for Peeps Sake
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: Koh-I-Noore colour pencils, gamsol, Xmas red Stickles, dimensionals, circle and oval punches, circle scallop punch, paper stump

Two Opportunities - and Three Projects

Hi Everyone - just wanted to share some fun opportunities that I recently found on line.

First - Kristin at Artful Inkables is looking for Design Team Members - so if you have ever thought you might like to do that - check it out here. I just sent my application in to them so wish me luck!

And Heather, over at H&M Stamps is having a really fun promotion - buy a certain number of her stamp sets between now and September - and have the opportunity to win some fun prizes! Check that whole thing out here. Check out her fun stamp set with a Statue of Liberty - that will be perfect for the upcoming 4th of July holiday as well as her barbecue set!

And now I'll share two projects that I did over the weekend and didn't get a chance to upload until now! I made this fun two pocket bag for the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS this past Sunday. YLM (Cindy) was the chosen stamper this week. I chose this card of hers to case.
My changes were - I used different color designer paper, made a ribbon handle instead of DP, and made a Sunflower instead of the one she had.

I loved the flower on the bag - and I have been wanting to make more of these adorable two pocket bags ever since I made one for the challenge a week or so ago. I learned how to make this wonderful sun flower using graduated sizes of nestabilities when I attended a workshop Lauren Meader ran at The Papertree in Manchester, NH (see info on that here).


The paper is Cosmo Cricket called Be Good: Peppermint Candy. I cut 5 sizes of scalloped circle nestabilities out of More Mustard, sponged the edges with Close to Cocoa, cut slits on the sides of each scallop, and ruffled the 'petals'. Then I layered them using foam dimensionals and attached the leaves by Prima. The bee is from PapertreyInk - Honey Bees set and I highlighted it with yellow stickles.
You can see the tutorial for the two pocket bag here:

Stamps: bee: PapertreyInk Honey Bees
Paper: More Mustard, Bazzill Brown, DP Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Close to cocoa
Accessories: 5 graduating sizes of scalloped circle nestabilities, Prima Artful Leaves, super sticky red tape, yellow stickles, circle punch, Summer Sunrise Twill: PTI, sponge, foam dimensionals, Fiskars Embossing tool, slot punch

My 2nd card is a Snowman Happy Flag Day card. A coworker commissions me to make snowmen cards for every holiday. She sends them to a friend in Florida as a running joke they have. You can see some of the other snowman cards I've made for her here.

This snowman with the cute bird perched on his nose is by Inkadinkado. The card is Night of Navy and the DP's are by GCD - Bedtime stories and All Boy Argyle - I thought they looked kind of 'flagish' on this card! I colored the snowman with Prismacolor markers. Then I stamped the flag hat on a scrap, colored it, cut it out and layered it over the real hat. I popped it up on foam dimensionals.
On the inside I dry embossed a piece of white cs with my square Nestability cut it out and stamped it with this stamp from My Sentiments Exactly and Karen Foster Snap Stamps.
And finally I'm throwing in the snowman card I made for Mother's Day that I forgot to upload when I made it!
This cute little guy is by Hampton Art Stamps and in real life he is holding a little gnome like snowball creature but I have him holding a pretty flower bouquet for Mother's day. The paper is Two Scoops by Basic Grey.

So..... that's it for today! Thanks so much for coming by!

Irish Snow

So I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for me to load up my St. Patrick's Snowman card that I promised yesterday! Well - the wait is over - here it is! As I described yesterday in my post below - I made this for a friend at work who sends a snowman card to her friend in Florida every holiday.

The design for this card is today's sketch challenge over on SCS. I stamped my cute snowman from Stampendous in Meadow ink by Adirondack and placed a shiny shamrock in his 'hand'. The card was run through my Cuttlebug with the Polka Dot folder (I just love this new folder) and the dots are again reflected in the DP that is from Die Cuts With a View: Spring pack. I got the cute shimmery foam shamrocks from Michaels. I stamped the sentiment - punched it with the large tag punch - then stamped the shamrocks around and off the edges. I punched a slot punch in the top and put the velvet ribbon through it. The sentiment and snowman panels are both up on dimensionals.

Thanks for checking out my blog tonight! I really appreciate when you leave a comment on my cards. Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Stamps: Sentiment & shamrocks: My Sentiments Exactly, Showman: Stampendous
Paper: PapertreyInk White, Wild Wasabi, DP: DCWV Spring Stack
Ink: Meadow: Adirondack
Accessories: lge tag punch, foam shamrocks, velvet ribbon, slot punch, swiss dot cuttlebug folder, prismacolor marker.

Easter Snow

I know - you probably said "What?? Snow for Easter???" Well - we actually did have a snow storm on April 1st in 1997 - but that's another story!

This is my Snowman Egg that I designed for a friend at work who commissions me to make a snowman card for every holiday - that she sends to her friend who lives in Florida (we're in New England) as an on-going joke - so this is the Easter Card I made for her.

It is also my card for today's color challenge on SCS - to use Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate and So Saffron colors. The egg stamp is from Close to My Heart Egg-cited set and the snowman face and carrot nose are from the Stampin Up set Cold Play.

I really have fun coming up with new snowman ideas for each holiday and I'm always on the look out for different snowmen stamps that might be good to use on my next card. I've already got one of a snowman sitting on the beach in a lounge chair for the 4th of July card!

Stamps: SU: Cold Play, CTMH: Eggcited, Sentiment: Savvy Stamps, Grass: Sutter Enterprises
Paper: So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, SU DP, PapertreyInk: white
Ink: Pitch Black Adirondack, Lemonade Adirondack, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie: SU
Accessories: Nestability scalloped ovals, Ribbon, brads, dimensionals, hand made cloud template

Here are some of the other cards I've made over this past year.

Halloween - Acetate card

Thanksgiving

ChristmasValentine's Day

Thanks for coming by and checking out my cards today - tomorrow I'll be loading up my St. Patrick's snowman - so be sure to drop by and take a look!