Sweet Pea Glitz and My Christmas COTW

I have quite a collection of the gorgeous Sweet Pea Stamps.  I've had this image colored for a while and went ahead and used her on this card.  This image is "Serene Night", colored with Prismacolor pencils and baby oil.  The gold paper I got at Hobby Lobby but it doesn't have a company name on it.  It is gorgeous, almost like gold canvas. 

Challenges:
In A Sweet Pea Dream - Talk To Me (Sentiment)
Sweet Pea Stampers - Glitz and Glamour
Friday Sketchers - #139 

Stamps:  Sweet Pea "Serene Night", Crafty Secrets "Fairyland" sentiment.
Paper:  GCD Bella Blue, SU! base CS, Neenah Solar White, unknown gold DP.
Ink:  Colorbox Queues.
Accessories:  Spellbinders die, corner rounder, MS edge punch, Wild Orchid roses, rhinestones, foil butterflies, foam tape, ribbon.

This second card is for my own personal challenge of a  Christmas card a week.  I just love this owl image.  Oh man...just noticed after uploading the picture that the tiny rhinestone fell off the center of the big snowflake. 

Card Patterns - Sketch 100


Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper:  My Mind's Eye Signature Christmas, scraps
Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Queues
Accessories:  EP, embossing folder, ribbon.

Three's a Charm...

....Challenges, that is. :) I started this card for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, where Becca Feeken is hosting this week and wants us to use Spellbinders. Wheee! So I decided to use the Poinsettia and Boxwood set and also make this my Christmas COTW #10 for my own personal challenge. I had all the pieces embossed, painted and cut out when I saw Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge to heat things up with embossing, and well...this just fell right into that one. :) The picture is a bit washed out; I couldn't seem to get a better one. Looks much better IRL. I stamped and embossed the poinsettia twice and a bunch of leaves with silver EP, then colored with Twinkling H2O's and Stickles added in the center. Cut out a layer for the poinsettia and mounted on foam tape, then attached onto Nestabilities Labels Two, the largest which was also edged with Twinkling H2O's. Embossed Peace with silver EP, stamped some flourishes in the corners and added tiny pearls at the top.

Stamps: Flourishes Poinsettia and Boxwood, Verve Fairy Tales, Inkadinka Peace.
Paper: The Paper Studio, My Mind's Eye.
Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Nestabilities, embosisng powder, foam tape, Twinkling H2O's, pearls, Stickles.

Some Late Postings, and Where is My Mojo?

Hola! Had a total brain meltdown, or something. I finished my Christmas COTW #9 and the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday card last Thursday but somehow forgot about them. Did the Stamp Simply Challenge Friday and then remembered them Friday night. Thought I would get to them Saturday, but that didn't happen either, then I forgot again. Saturday our JROTC Booster Club was responsible for lunches for 448 JROTC kids from all over central and south Texas at the orienteering meet at Camp Bullis. Essentially the kids are sent out armed with only maps and a compass to run around in the woods on the Army Post and find different markers within a specific time frame. I think only two got really lost this time. : ) We got there at 7:30 in the morning. There were 12 of us parents out there spending most of the day battling that 35-40 MPH wind and cold blast that came through while doing hot dog lunches for the kids. One dad grilled up 1000 hot dogs, and six of us then did an assembly line of bunning and wrapping the dogs. Went smoothly, just very windy. At some point the dust got to me and the sneezing started, so I spent the rest of the day at home being lazy with Chuck and sneezing my head off. I think my mojo blew away with the wind. I haven't even sat down at my craft table, so until I find my mojo again, here's these two cards to check out.

This is the card I did for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday, to use vellum on the card. I followed the Mojo Monday #75 sketch for this. The Flourishes butterly was stamped on beige vellum then cut out. Base DP from DCWV. Pink and yellow DP were plain colors from My Mind's Eye. On the pink I stamped a flourish all over, and the yellow I embossed then inked the raised portions. Layered all pieces, attached the butterfly by its body and gently bent up the wings. Flower made with various size punches, Stickled in the center, then added a clear Dew Drop. Colored Dew Drops added beside the butterfly.

Stamps: Flourishes Butterfly Moments; Crafty Secrets Flourishes set.
Paper: DCWV Once Upon a Time, The Paper Studio CS and vellum, My Mind's Eye DP.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: MS cornice edge punch, CarlaCraft flower punches, EK Success leaf punch, Dew Drops, Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder.

Here's my Christmas card of the week #9 for last week too. Base DP is a piece of wrapping paper. Ran Versamark pad along edge of base card then embossed with gold EP; Inkadinkado Peace Wreath also embossed with gold EP. Cut that out with circle Nestabilities, cut out center and added vellum to backside to soften the center. Had added a felt poinsettia and leaves to the center, and...ick, so pulled those off and with that pulled off part of the background. So I filled in those spots with a gold Deco pen, and then covered that "window" with vellum to further camouflage that. Hopefully some of this week's challenges and sketches will help bring back my mojo. By the way...the boy's orienteering team took 2nd place, the girls team took 1st place. Woohoo!

Stamps: Inkadinkado Peace Wreath.
Paper: The Paper Studio, wrapping paper, vellum.
Ink: Versamark.
Accessories: Gold EP, Nestabilities.

Christmas COTW #8

I almost forgot to do my Christmas card this week for my personal challenge. I love the angel in this SU! set, she's so pretty. I used scraps from my Cosmo Cricket Wonderland pad. Embossed the angel and sentiment with gold EP, then cut out the angel with rectangle Nestabilities. A couple branches done with MS branch punch. Can you guess what that embellishment is? Hint...it's been sitting on my desk since I stepped on it and said un-nice things at Christmas. It's the top to a glass ormanent. I tried to straighten it out but then just flattened it and thought it would be a cool embellishment to stick on something. Added the big pearl brad from Michael's bridal dept.

Stamps: SU! On Angel Wings.

Paper: Cosmo Cricket Wonderland, SU! base CS.

Ink: Versamark.

Accessories: Gold EP, Martha Stewart branch punch, pearl brad, Ornament cap I found with my foot.

Two Christmas COTW

These are my Christmas cards of the week. The second one I actually made yesterday but didn't have time to post, so technically it's last week's. Whatever, right? hee hee! Now, I don't mean to be negative, but that's what Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge said to do. : ) Actually what she said was to use the negative image of a punch or die, or use a negative image or reversed out stamp. Check out her post for details. Made this one this morning, using same stamp set as yesterday's. This is week #7 card. Stamped image directly onto Kraft CS, embossed with copper EP. Sponged burgundy ink all around and added rhinestones; also sponged around all paper edges. Used Nestabilities curved rectangles to cut out the center from the Wassail DP, attached it up on foam tape. So that's the negative part...used what was left rather than the actual die that was cut out. Gave this a framed look. The leaves are from the same same set, embossed with mixture of copper, gold and green EP. Burgundy Stickles on the berries, and a couple rhinestones added to the leaves.

COTW #6 here. Tyler had a JROTC competition yesterday and I made this card in the morning while I was waiting for him to get ready. I took the picture but didn't have time to post before leaving for the competition. Got back after 6 and was too tired to do anything. Attached DP to Kraft CS. Stamped the image with Versamark on manila folder scrap, embossed with mixture of copper and gold EP I had left over from card a couple days ago. Added some rhinestones, inked the edges. Leaves from same set, but added some green EP to the same mix before embossing. Burgundy Stickles on the berries and a couple of rhinestones added, and the leaves were mounted on foam tape. This card actually gave me the idea for the first one in this post for Sharon's challenge. :)

Stamps: Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouettes.

Paper: Kraft CS, Basic Grey Wassail (top card), Memory Box Winterberry (bottom card).

Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Embossing powder, rhinestones, stickles, foam tape.

Christmas COTW #5

Wow, at some point Wednesday night my blog counter hit 10K. Not a big number, I know, but when I started this blog in August, I thought I would be spending most of my time talking to myself and did not imagine that many hits 5 months later. A big thank you for visiting, and know that your comments are always greatly appreciated! I had originally planned to give away some blog candy for 10K hits, but a much better cause came up sooner, and that was Pat Adam's Cards for Kids. She has received almost 3500 cards to date (way to go cardmakers!) and that number keeps growing. Details and my blog candy can be found here. It goes till Feb. 7, so jump in the pool!

Okay, back to talking to myself. : ) Here is my Christmas card of the week, #5. This Whiff of Joy image is called Melinda Christmas Angel. Colored her with Primacolors/baby oil. Added Twinkling H20's to the "fur" trim and the sash, Stickles on the berries and her wings. I cut her out and mounted her on three layers of Curved Rectangles Nesties. I stamped silver snowflakes on the two solid colored cuts. Sentiment was stamped in three different colors to give it dimensions; looks good IRL. Tiny pearls added that final needed touch.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Melinda Christmas Angel; Verve Winter Wonder; SU! Warm Words.

Paper: The Paper Studio, My Mind's Eye.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Nestabilities, Stickles, Twinkling H2O's, pearls.

Christmas COTW #3, Flourishes Home Challenge

Two cards in this post. Where did this week go?!? Just didn't seem like there were enough days. : ) Okay, here's my week 3 Christmas card. Decided to go with this image from Flourished Christmas, and to use non-traditional colors this time. Embossed the tree and sentiment with silver EP. Cut both out with regular and scalloped Nestabilities. Inked edges. Background DP is from DCWV; it has a sheen to it that was picked up by the flash. Attached the sentiment stack over the ribbon along the bottom, tied the ribbon in a bow.

Stamps: Flourished Christmas by Flourishes.

Paper: DCWV, The Paper Studio.

Ink: Versarmark, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Nestabilities, silver EP, ribbon.

I also wanted to do the Flourishes home challenge, to make a card using something in our home as inspiration. Here is my inspiration, a little shelf I have in my bedroom. Actually used the same flourished tree as above, turned upside down. I used the largest Curved Rectangle Nestabilities to cut the card base on the fold, inked the edges all the way around . Base DP is from Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste. Used Versamark to stamp the tree from the Flourishes set upside down, embossed it with silver and copper EP mixed together. Then used a flourish from Crafty Secrets calender set to stamp/emboss the shelf with black EP. The "ball" was cut out with a Nestabilities from a scrolled heart stamp. I stamped and colored the vase and rose, then stamped, cut and cut out the smaller flowers and attached those over the rose stem, added Stickles to them. The sentiment was stamped onto the same CS as the base, cut out with the smallest Labels 1, inked the edges, put it on foam tape. Then used a slot stamp to make it into a slider. Ran the ribbon through it, through some slits I did on each side of the rose and wrapped the ends around the edge. Inked around the lower border and halfway up. Will also use this card for Sharon's SSNOTIME68 challenge.

Stamps: Flourished Christmas, Stampin Up! Fresh Cuts, scrolled heart (unknown), Prima, See D's Romance, Crafty Secrets Calendar.

Paper: The Paper Studio, Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Gold and copper EP, Nestabilities

For My Personal Challenge

Uh oh, I made the first card for my goal of doing a Christmas card a week this year, but then I got distracted, didn't even take a picture of it, then totally forgot about it. So this post will have cards 1 and 2. Blogging buddy Chris has the same goal, so we can keep each other motivated. My daughter left this morning to head back to college in Vermont, so I had been spending as much time as possible with her. I won't get to see her until April when I go up there for Relay for Life. She won't be coming home for Spring Break, but instead will be going to New York to work with Habitat for Humanity, which I think is so great! I started missing her before she even turned to go through security at the airport.

Okay, so here's card 1. This is the first time I have used this Rubber Stamp Tapestry set. I don't think there is a way to mess this up or do it wrong. I had this scalloped oval already cut out/embossed, so stamped Noel on it and then used the tiny little peg stamps to add the poinsettias, leaves and tendrils. Added some along the scallops too. Put burgundy Stickles in the centers of the poinsettias. Inked the edge and smudge Velvet Colorbox on the scallop and attached it to the green CS square with rounded corners. Played with the peg stamps on there too. Attached the square to this gorgeous burgundy foil and flocked wrapping paper I got on sale at the Container Store. Pictures don't do it justice.

Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry Noel.

Paper: Container Store wrapping paper, The Paper Studio CS.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Nestabilities, Stickles, corner rounder.

Card 2 will also be double-duty one for the House Mouse #19 Challenge that I kept not having time to do and that was extended another week, so squeaking this one in. :) Supposed to use some embossing on this one. I colored the image with Prismas/baby oil. The bow was colored with Twinkling H2Os in two different colors for depth. Burgundy Stickles on the berries in the wreath. Cut/embossed the image with Lg and Sm Labels, inked the edges of both. Used SU! Designer Label punch, embossed the Verve sentiment with gold EP, then embossed all around the edge as well with the EP. Background DP is from Black Market. Not typical Christmas colors, but it looks pretty. Attached sentiment on foam tape. Base card is Kraft CS. Added a couple of gold Dew Drops in the corner.

Stamps: House Mouse Tumbling Wreath, Verve Winter Wonder.

Paper: Black Market Let it Bloom pack, The Paper Studio CS, Kraft CS.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Prismacolor pencils/baby oil, gold EP, Twinkling H2O's, Stickles, Nestabilities, SU! Designer Label punch.