PDCC62 and some wonderful news!!! :)

Hi friends! This is such a great month for me!!! I've been sooooo lucky! I won another challenge today. The Verve December Challenge, and the prize they were giving out is their January release. I've always wanted to try Verve Stamps but just never got around to it. Now I can FINALLY use them on my cards!!!! Yay!!! I was sooo surprised and happy that I literally started jumping and then ran out to tell my husband the great news. He was laughing a little because I was sooo excited. But then who wouldn't be?! Hahaha! :)

Good news aside, I have a card for all of you tonight. It's for The Play Date Cafe Challenge #62. Here's their inspiration photo and color combination.

Here's my take on the challenge. I concentrated on my kraft cardstock and I put in little bursts of color here and there. My Mat Stack 2 Collection finally came in the mail. (Thank you Julie!!!) It was a Christmas gift from my sister! :) I also used some of my new stamp sets that arrived yesterday. I stamped fancy flourishes on the upper right and lower left corners of my card base. I used chocolate chip and very pink. Then I stamped music scores on vintage cream cardstock and punched the corners with a Martha Steward punch. The Mat Stack 2 collection stamp I used here is my favorite out of all the stamps in that set. Although I must they they're ALL gorgeous! I tried to keep this simple. I hope you like it! Happy New Year to everyone!!! See you all next year!!! Haha! I mean tomorrow! :) Good night! 

VLVDec2010 Week 3 For You

Hi everyone! 2010 is almost over, and it was a great year for me. I'm really glad to have discovered this hobby and made many bloggie friends in the process. I have some wonderful news, but I can't spill them until next year! But for now, I'll keep doing what I love doing and continue to be inspired by amazing crafters.

I have a card for everyone tonight. It's my last card for the Verve December Challenge Week 3. This sketch is by Amy Sheffer. 

I went with soft colors for this card, with a little pop of red here and there. The ornament stamp is from Stampin' Up. The little doily stamp behind it is from SEI. I used some silver chip glitters, I forgot what they're called, but it's from Melissa Frances. It's so pretty! I've been trying to look for Mica but I don't know where to get them. Any ideas? Does Michael's or AC Moore carry them? Anyway, I hope you like this card. I'll try to be back later for another one...a box was waiting for me when I got home...with more "toys" for me to play with! Hee! 

VLVDec2010 Week 4 and CQC #65

Hi bloggie friends! Here's another card for the Verve December challenge. I skipped the 3rd week and went straight to this sketch. I also used the colors on Colour Q's challenge 65. The colors were absolutely elegant. It was perfect for what I had in mind. Here's the sketch and the color combination.

So here's my take on these two challenges. I must say, I just love Teresa's sketch. Isn't it great?! I just love sketches with bands in the middle...and of course let's not forget the ribbon! :) It was a good night tonight, I had great news at work! Well, some not so good news too...but when I got home my box from Emma's Paperie was waiting for me. Which totally made up for the not so good news. With the box came this gorgeous stamp set from Tattered Angels. This HUGE flourish was right in the middle of the stamp set. I had no idea it was going to turn out this big! Anyway, I LOVE flourishes! Big or small. The more ornate the better! I'm going to try to finish the last card needed for the challenge for Verve. I believe their deadline is tomorrow. I hope you like this card! I'll be back later for CASE Study Challenge! See you then! :)

VLVDec2010 Week 2

Hi ladies! I have one more for the road tonight! The deadline is this Thursday and I really wanted to try to join in all 4 challenges. I just love this layout! There are so many layers going on, it's just up my alley! Of course I went a little shabby chic again. I really had fun with this challenge. It gave me an excuse to use my Vintage Ornaments from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. I know it's a Verve challenge, but I don't have any Verve stamps. Which is why I wanted to join! Maybe I'll get lucky and win some stamps! Hee! :) Here's the sketch for VLVDec2010 Week 2.

I just love this color combination! I found this polka dotted patterned paper and just went with it. Isn't it a lovely color combination? :) And did you notice all my layers? I really get to thinking when there are more layers in my card. This was such a great sketch! Thank you Sankari! :) Thanks for stopping by tonight! I hope you liked my card. See you ladies tomorrow! :)

VLVDec2010 Week 1

Hi friends! Like I said before, I found the Verve December challenge. I'm starting pretty late, I have 3 more cards to go. But I hope I make it in time. I'm not very familiar with how to go around the Splitcoaststampers site either. I'm just hoping I'm posting this right! Hee! Here's the first sketch.

I wasn't sure where to begin. But I knew I wanted to make a nice big snowflake. I put together these cute patterned papers and stamped some snowflakes on the top panel. This card just reminds me how cold it is here in New York! My goodness, we haven't been able to go to work since yesterday because we couldn't even get to work! They haven't completely plowed the roads near our clinic so we can't even enter our garage. And we couldn't find parking outside either because so many cars are parked everywhere. It was an icy jungle out there today. I hope things are better tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by today! I hope I can squeeze in a little more craft time later on tonight so I can make it through the entire challenge. See you all soon! Keep warm! :)

The Shabby Tea Room Week 42

Hi everyone! I found the Viva to Verve challenge by accident today. I'm not very familiar with these challenges (unfortunately) because I think they're all on the Splitcoaststampers forum. Did I type that right?! I tried registering but I'm still not very familiar with it. The challenge for Viva la Verve was supposed to be themed ornaments and snow. So I'm just borrowing this sketch and making another one for the real challenge! Hee! Here's the sketch for the Viva la Verve December 2010 Week 3 challenge. My card is for The Shabby Tea Room Week 42: Shabby Chic Baby challenge. After seeing the inspiration photo I couldn't resist.

This is my take on the challenge. I found these Martha Stewart felt stickers and I just bought them. They're sooooo cute!!! They were so cute that I almost didn't want to use them!!! I changed a little of the sketch...it's very minimal though. This was so much fun to do! Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you like this one! :)

Yay! I won!

Oh my goodness! Hi bloggie friends! I joined the Papertrey Ink December blog hop yesterday. When I woke up this morning, I was thinking to myself, " If I win, what stamp set would I choose?". After 2 hours of helping with the shoveling outside, I stepped in for some hot cocoa and a chance to rest. We're totally snowed in, so there was no way we were even going to go to work. Anyway, I checked in on my emails and checked my favorite websites. And I saw this by accident:

Jean Martin was able to reuse some beautiful white ribbon she received on a gift from a dear friend to create this stunning birthday card.  The soft color scheme of the overall project allows the ribbon to remain bold, even though it is a neutral white.  And adored the details she added to the center of the butterflies!

I was so tired from shoveling that I almost forgot to check on the results of the blog hop!! What a wonderful gift to find after all that shoveling!!! I'm soooo excited!!! :) And so very, very grateful! Thank you so much Papertrey Ink!!!

December Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Hello bloggie friends! It's snowing outside! It's been snowing since this morning and it doesn't look like it has any plans on stopping any time soon. I was hoping for a white Christmas, but this is insane!  My poor husband has his job cut out for him! I hope you're all safe and cozy in your homes tonight!


I read some terrible news from back home. An infamous son of a senator and his six friends who violently raped and killed a teenager, her mother and her little sister in 1991 was pardoned today!?#%$@!  Their father who was away on business was spared and came home to the horrifying news that his entire family was murdered. Today, he fell on his knees crying and passed out after hearing the news of the pardon. This is such a great injustice!!!! Please pray for the dad that was left behind, and for some justice for him and his family.


Well, I don't know how to continue after that story! But some good news would be great after that. So isn't it just wonderful that it's time for the Papertrey Ink blog hop?! It seems I've missed several blog hops already and I didn't want to miss this one. This month's challenge is to use Christmas left overs. Well, I just happened to save this beautiful white ribbon from a gift I received. It was perfect for this challenge. 

I chose to go the shabby chic way today. I layered on some patterned papers. Used another frame from Tattered Angels. I also used one of my favorite PTI stamp sets! I'm so glad that PTI is starting to make stamp sets for their dies. I'm waiting for the craze of the December release to die down before I order my December want list! Hee! I'm so excited! They came out with such wonderful sets this month! I can't wait for what they're going to come up with next year!!! Anyway, I hope you like this one!!! Thanks for stopping by!

Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 62

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas again! It's Sunday and it's time for a Curtain Call Color Challenge! I know most of you will be busy this weekend. But this is such a wonderful color challenge. Stacey has chosen cool colors for our Christmas weekend. Here's the color combination. I made two cards for this color challenge. One that wasn't Christmas related and the other one a little follow up for the "second" day of Christmas! :) 

Isn't that inspiration picture just delish?! It's so elegant! It reminds me of one of my favorite interior designers, Candice Olsen. I painted the flower using my Stampin' Up inks and a water brush. The colors came out lighter than I wanted. But it still looks good! :) The little black dots on the flower are actually from enamel accents. I had put some too close to one another that they merged to make bigger globs. Since there was no texture on the card, I added the enamel accents and the silver pearls. I stopped myself from using a ribbon on this one. I thought it looked better simple. I hope you like this one!

Since it's still Christmas...well sort of...Christmas is always long for me...I made a Christmas card. I know I didn't need any more, but I still wanted to make one using these colors. I also used a sketch from Emma's Paperie for this card.

I tried to make a nice, whimsical Christmas card. It's not usually my style, but I hope you like it none the less. When I saw the skates, I NEEDED to use the stamp!!! Hahaha. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend. And please take the time to join us this week for a little Curtain Call fun!

The Curtain Call Crew has samples to show you today, too, so make sure you stop by to see:


Christina MacLaren at Seaglass & Sentiments
Julie Lacey at Stamps & Taxes
Laurel Seabrook at Seabrook Designs
Makiko Jones at MakInk Studio
Monika Davis at M.A.D. Stamper
Piali Biswas at Touch of Creation
Silke Ledlow at My Life





and December Guest Designer, Maureen Plut at Buttons & Bling.


...then play along with us and post your Curtain Call Color Challenge creation using Mr. Linky back atStacey's Stamping Stage.

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to greet you all a Merry Merry Christmas! I hope you're all enjoying your holiday!!! :)

CQC 64

Hi bloggie friends! I'm sorry I haven't been posting in a while. I've been enjoying the holiday season too much! Hee! :) I have a card for everyone tonight to make up for my absence. This one is for CQC 64. I had a bit of a hard time with this one. Colour Q ALWAYS challenges me with their color combinations. Most of the time I chicken out. But this time I wanted to try it. Here's the color combination for this challenge.

These colors are so bright! You know me, I'm more of a neutrals and pastels card person. This one was a real challenge. I think I've been trying to go at it since Sunday! Well, FINALLY! Here's my take on CQC 64. The stamps are from Unity. And look!!! I finally have some Tattered Angels chips!!! Yay! I hope you like this one! Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you again soon. Have a wonderful, wonderful holiday season! :)

Cards that didn't make it.

Hi bloggies! I've been a little busy making some cards for some magazine submissions. I didn't want to leave you hanging dry here. So I'm posting some of the cards that didn't make it for publishing. 

This one was supposed to be a Teacher's card. I have no teacher stamps. I improvised and used these apples. I wasn't so sure about this one. I'm not very good with cutesie cards. And this one seemed to fall in that category....I think.

I'm not sure if this one was for a submission call or if I'd already posted it on my blog. Anyway, I'm showing it you ladies just in case. :)

Another Mother's Day card. I was hoping this one would make it. Perhaps it was too much? Even though, I had a lot of fun making this very feminine card. Well, that's it for tonight. I noticed there isn't a lot of activity in blogland right now. I hope this post brings you some inspiration...even if they are rejects. Hahahhaa! Good night everyone! 

Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 61

Hi bloggie friends, this is my 4th post of the day (yes, fourth!), scroll down to see the rest! It's time for Curtain Call Color Challenge 61! This week, Stacey outdid herself!!! This color combo is just GORGEOUS! I love all the warm colors. I know I keep saying this every week. But I can't help it!!! Stacey just keeps coming up with these beautiful color combinations!!! I had sooo much fun making this one!!! I know a lot of people will be very, very busy this week. But I just have to say it: YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS ONE OUT!!! :) Here's our color combo for this week.

If you know me at all by following my blog, you'll know that when I genuinely love, love, love a card...I will have a LOT of pictures of it. :) Heee! Well....I really, really LOVE this card! I started with the little argyle patterned paper there. I made it from my Little Argyle stamp set from Papertrey Ink. I had nothing close to bravo burgundy. So I stamped the diamonds with Versamark ink on some burgundy patterned paper and cut them out one by one and glued them on the vintage cream cardstock. I also stamped a crackle background...I'm not sure if it's visible. But in person, the effect is just gorgeous. Everything else just fell into place after I made that panel. 

I really enjoyed making this. I hope this one inspires you to join us this week. Pick up your scissors and stamps and let's get cracking! :)

The Curtain Call Crew has samples to show you today, too, so make sure you stop by to see:


Christina MacLaren at Seaglass & Sentiments
Jean Martin at Stampin' Scrapper
Julie Lacey at Stamps & Taxes
Laurel Seabrook at Seabrook Designs
Makiko Jones at MakInk Studio
Monika Davis at M.A.D. Stamper
Piali Biswas at Touch of Creation
Silke Ledlow at My Life





and December Guest Designer, Maureen Plut at Buttons & Bling.


...then play along with us and post your Curtain Call Color Challenge creation using Mr. Linky back atStacey's Stamping Stage.