The Stars are Brightly Shining

Today I have a Christmas Card to share (yes - I work on them year round so I'm done by December!) And I'm so glad there are lots of challenges out there to inspire my designs!

I used Multi Step Ornament and Stars stamps from Kitchen Sink to stamp the star in my sky and the sentiment is from Peace on Earth by Verve.

My card was inspired by:

Merry Monday

I was inspired by the stars and the dark night outside the windows

Freshly Made Sketches

Happy weekend everyone!

Stamps:  Multi Step Ornament and Stars - Kitchen Sink, Peace on Earth - Verve.
Paper:  White, Soft Stone - PTI, Brushed Silver - SU, star patterned paper from stash.
Ink:  Hero Arts Black, Brilliance Starlite Silver, Brilliance Starlite Black.
Accessories:  Star and rectangle dies - Nestabilities, foam dots.

Celebrate with Green Balloons!

Balloons are such happy little things and certainly scream birthday celebration, don't you think?!   Today I have a card to share that I used my brandy new Birthday Balloon stamps and stencil from Papertrey Ink.  

 I stenciled the balloons using Limeaide Ice and New Leaf  inks from PTI, then I stamped over them using Olive Twist Ink, also PTI.  I die cut the sentiment 3 times using a Birthday Top Edgers Die from Impression Obsession glued them together so it was thicker and adhered it over the balloons with foam tape.  I forgot to stamp the strings on the balloons before I adhered the sentiment (whoops!) so I drew them on with a Copic Marker!

I went over the  stars, lines and dots on the balloons as well as the sentiment with a clear glitter Wink of Stella so there's a lot of shimmer

My card was inspired by the following challenges:

Just Us Girls

The Card Concept

My card is layered CAS

 CAS(E) This Sketch

Less is More

We went from bare ground to about 8" of sticky wet snow overnight!  After a morning of shoveling and snow blowing -  the sun is shining and it's all dripping off the trees and electric wires!  Lots of people in surrounding towns have lost power due to the weight of the snow on the lines - but luckily we did not!

Stamps:  Birthday Balloons - PTI

Paper:  White, Limeaide Ice, Ripe Avocado - PTI

Ink:  New Leaf, Lineaide Ice, Olive Twist - PTI

Accessories:  Birthday Top Edgers Die - Impression Obsession,  Birthday Balloon Stencil - PTI, Clear Glitter Wink of Stella, Putty Copic, foam tape

Sending Well Wishes

I need cards for a friend who has several health issues.  She's had one surgery and needs another one in about 6 weeks.   I'm sending her a card each week for a while to cheer her up.  

Here's the latest one.

I wanted to use tulips for the challenge linked to below -  and after searching through drawers and drawers of stamps -  I found that this one from Vintage Picnic by PTI is the only one I have?!    I stamped the tulips on the white panel and colored them with Tombow Markers. I die cut and stamped the basket out of kraft card, sponged over it with Kraft ink and adhered it over the tulips with foam dots.   I used a new sentiment stamp from Direct Messages - also from PTI - stamping it in black over kraft card and die cutting it.   The back panel of my card is Distress Woodgrain card from Tim Holtz/Ranger

My card design was inspired by the Featured Stamper challenge over on Splitcoaststampers yesterday -  Brownwyn was the FS and you can see her card I CASED here.  I used different stamps and sentiment.

I'm also linking my card to :

The Paper Players

I'm trying to think Spring - but we've got more snow predicted for this week here in MA!

Stamps:  Direct Messages, Vintage Picnic - Papertrey Ink 
Paper:  white, kraft - PTI, Distress Woodgrain Cards - Tim Holtz/Ranger 
Ink: Hero Arts Black, Classic Kraft - PTI
Accessories: Direct Messages Die, Vintage Picnic Die - PTI, foam dots, Tombow Markers

CAS Christmas Challenge - Holly

I'm so excited to see Loll and Bonnie's new CAS Christmas Challenge launching today!  And their theme this month is Holly -   I love holly and have several stamps and dies of it so I think I'll be playing along a lot this month!  And I sure do love having all my cards ready to send when December rolls around - don't you?!

Here's my card.

I had these fun Mat Minis Holly and Berries from Wendy Vecchi/Stampers Anonymous - they are made of some kind of chipboard and coordinate with Wendy's Stamp It Stencil It Holiday Icons stamp/stencil set

I inked the stamp up with Archival Jet Black Ink and pressed the holly piece over the stamp (it's easier than trying to line up the stamp over the cut out!)  I did the same thing with the berries piece and then sponged over the holly leaves with Wendy Vecchi Archival Leaf Green Ink and the berries with WV Archival Red Geranium Ink.

I embossed the background panel with Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wood Planks embossing folder and die cut the  Holiday Frames from Simon Says Stamp.  I adhered everything to the white card base.

I made four cards while I had the supplies out -  so into my Christmas Box they go!

Here's a link to the CAS Christmas Card Challenge -  we have until March 24th to get our holly cards linked up and we can enter 3 times!

Stamps:  Stamp It Stencil It Holiday Icons - Wendy Vecchi/Stampers Anonymous
Paper:  White - PTI
Ink:  Wendy Vecchi Archival Red Geranium, Fern Green,  Archival Jet Black
Accessories:  Holiday Frames Die - Simon Says Stamp, Mat Minis Holly and Berries - Wendy Vecchi/Stampers Anonymous, Wood Planks Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, Tombow Glue.

March CAS Mix Up Challenge! Happy Easter

Well, it's the first of March - and time for the new CAS Mix Up Challenge!   Susan is our hostess this month and here is her challenge:

This also marks the CAS Mix Up 2nd Birthday!! 
So check out the blog where there are prizes to be won!

 For my card today I used dry embossing on acetate, stamping, die cuts and markers.

Here's a close-up of the embossed acetate - I used a Chevron embossing folder thinking it's like a design you would put on an Easter egg!   I stamped the images onto the rectangle piece left over from die cutting the front panel.  I drew in the grass with a green Copic.   Then I stamped the sentiment on the panel.  All the stamps are from A Bit More: Bunny Blessings from PTI.  
($5 for this cute little set! just sayin'!)

You'll find the challenge details along with links to technique videos using acetate -  and the link up here on the CAS Mix Up Blog.  You have until 3/24/18 to link up your CAS challenge card!

I'm also linking my card to:

Less is More

Stamps:  A Bit More: Bunny Blessings - PTI
Paper:  white, clear cardstock (acetate) - PTI
Ink:  Cocoa Bean, Spring Rain - PTI
Accessories:  Chevron Embossing Folder - Provo Craft,  Rectangle Peek a Boo Die - MFT, Freen Copic YG63,  Scor Tape.

We're Going to the Zoo!

I love spending time with my grand nieces and nephews - and recently during school vacation - Landon, Mila, mum Katie and I went to the Stone Zoo together.  I took some photos of them and turned them into framed cards.  They love to get mail and to see themselves on cards!

The zoo had these fun penguins along the walk through the zoo - and of course, we had to get photos of them peeking their faces through the penguin's body!

 Here's Penguin Landon (age 7)

 I used another one of my favorite dies from Eileen Hull/Sizzix -  the Mailable Frame Die (curently on sale!)  The frame die has a cut out on the front panel to layer your photo behind - but it's smaller than my photos - so for these frame cards, I adhered the photo right over the opening and I adhered some of the patterned paper on the back side to cover the opening as well.

I added layered flowers from Eileen's sweet Stitchy Flowers and Leaf Thinlits die set -  the different sizes and petal shapes layer wonderfully!

Here's Penguin Mila (age 5)

I just happened to have this fun zoo stamp in my stash - I thought it was so fun when I purchased it many years ago - but I think this is the first time I've used it.  

And the reason I love this die - because you can stand up your card - and display it on shelf, bookcase or bureau!  AND it fits in a regular A2 envelope
(I usually give these to people at Birthday Parties etc -  but I did mail these to the kids -  it cost $3.50 for each one - as the matboard is stiff and thick so it was considered a parcel in the US)

It's good to have it weighed at the post office if mailing.  You could die cut this out of cardstock - it wouldn't be as sturdy - but it would be lighter if you are mailing.

So the Zoo stamp I used actually had two lines on it 

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo,

You can come too, too, too!

but I stamped it and then cut strips of each line - so I put the 2nd line on the inside of my frame card along with some sentiments I made with my Brother P-Touch Label maker to personalize it all!

It was an unusually warm day for Feb -  74 degrees F! So they were in t-shirts and shorts!

Of course, there were also live animals at the zoo......

a beautiful leopard enjoying the sun

and a soft furry Lynx with his oversized paws and black point feathery ears.

And then we went out to lunch at Friendlies and had ice cream sundaes for dessert!

I've used this wonderful frame die many times on projects here on the blog

Mila's 4th birthday frame card.  See here how I made it.

See here how I made this one.

See here how I made this Valentine for Kent.

And -   see here how I made this one using real shells from Sanibel Island! 

 (it really IS one of my favorite dies!)

Please check out Eileen Hull's blog all month to see what the rest of the Creative Team choose as their favorites of Eileen's dies!

I'm linking my card to:
Cute Card Thursday
Cute Critters

Penguin cards
Stamps:  Going to the Zoo - Simply Stamped
Paper:  Black Little Sizzles Mat Board - Sizzix, black and white cardstock, DP Text Style Black and White Designs - PTI
Ink:  Hero Arts Black
Accessories:  Mailable Frame Die and Stitchy Flowers and Leaf Dies - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Noted: Scalloped die - PTI, foam dots, black and grey half pearls.

Papertrey Ink - February Blog Hop

Today I'm participating in the Papertrey Ink February Blog Hop.   Here is the inspiration photo.

Happily, I received my order from the February release just in time and had the perfect stamps to create with!

I used Egg Stripes along with the Egg Die, cutting out a circle in the egg to make it look like one of those sugar eggs where you peek in and see a scene inside.  

Every Easter my sister and I would find one of these wonderful eggs in our Easter Baskets - we would just lap the outside of the eggs to get the sweetness - not wanting to destroy the cute scenes inside!  

 (the thought of eating that solid sugar egg now makes my teeth ache!)

I put a piece of clear cardstock (acetate) over the inside of the opening on the egg, adhered several rows of die cut green tissue grass onto the acetate with Scor Tape.  I stamped the bunny and eggs from A Bit More: Bunny Blessings onto the die cut circle I had left over from cutting it out of the egg figuring out where to stamp so it was just sitting in the grass (not covered by it!).  I die cut a scalloped circle and layered it over the opening on the egg. I sponged all the edges with Ranger Distress Tea Die. I adhered the stamped circle to the panel and the egg over the image with foam dots.

Now I'm off to see how this wonderful spring image inspired everyone else!

You'll find the PTI blog hop here.

Stamps:  A Bit More: Bunny Blessings, Egg Stripes - PTI
Paper:  Rustic Cream, Clear Card (Acetate) - PTI, green tissue paper from stash.
Ink:  Cocoa Bean, Spring Rain Lemon Tart - PTI, Ranger Distress Tea Dye
Accessories:  Egg Die - PTI, grass die - MFT, Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, foam dots, ScorTape.