WMSC 129

Hi there! I'm back again! Whew! It's been a busy week hasn't it. I hope you aren't tired of me yet, because I have one more card before the week ends. 

Welcome to Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 129! This week's sketch is from Edna! Come and give it a try! :)

This sketch stumped me at first. My head was like completely blank! Then I stamped and embossed this beautiful doily from Dainty Doilies - Large. After that it just came together wonderfully. I have been wanting to use Vintage Garden - Seed Packet for weeks now. And today, I finally had the chance to use it. I just LOVE the detail in this set and coordinating sets as well! 

 I layered some die cuts over the doily to add some dimension. I stamped the sentiment frame twice in aqua and yellow. Then I hand cut the flower portion and adhered that onto my aqua frame. I also dry embossed a wood grain pattern on the kraft base. I could not help myself. lol! :)

I sewed a strip of yellow chevron ribbon onto the bottom of the card and tied baker's twine over it. I wanted the pop of color to my otherwise neutral card. 

I'm meeting college friends next week. I'm so excited! Not so excited that I have to show them around Central Park during winter! lol! I have never been good with cold weather. I came from a tropical country so I doubt I'll ever get used to all this cold! Yesterday was 35 degrees and windy...I just had to walk from our car to our front door...less than a minute...and I was shivering so much already and my face hurt! lol. I can't imagine how I'm going to go around Central Park at all!!! Wish me luck! 

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope to see you all over at Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge! Enjoy your weekend! :)

Celebrate the Season

Hello there! I'm back with a little tease post today. lol. Actually, I just wanted to share that I have a post over at The Craft's Meow blog. 

Here's a little sneak peek of my card. So please head on over there and check it out! :)

CASE Study Challenge 122

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas. CASE Study Challenge is back!  Did you get a chance to join the last challenge? I had a wonderful time perusing through the submissions. 

Since the New Year is just around the corner and we know that many of you will be busy planning those parties...CASE Study Challenge 122 will be up for two weeks in order to give everyone a chance to join!!! Yay! 

For the next two weeks, or fabulous December muse Windy Robinson has this gorgeous piece as inspiration for everyone. 

Here's what I came up with. All the stamp sets I used are from Papertrey Ink. I was missing them a lot so I made my card with as many PTI products as I could. I was inspired by the background pattern that Windy used. I used a chevron pattern and stamped it on the bottom of my card. Then I picked up the beautiful flourishes and instead of using bling, I stamped it straight onto the card.

I thought the background was missing a little something, so I stamped some flowers from PTI: Lovely Layers along the sides of the card.

Then again, picking up the floral inspiration from Windy's card, I die cut the bigger flowers from Lovely Layers, stamped them and adhered them together.

 

 I was loving the color combination already but it needed something more.  So I tied an orange chevron ribbon around my card before adhering my main flower permanently on my card. 

 That's all I have for you today. Please come join us for a little inky fun over at CASE Study Challenge! Enjoy the rest of your week! I'll see you again soon! :)

A Very Merry Christmas Giveaway!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! If you didn't see my post yesterday WPlus9 is having a HUGE Giveaway this week! Welcome to A Very Merry Christmas Giveaway! Here are the deets!

My picks for the giveaway are Folk Art Flurries and Seasonal Sentiments Die. I made a card and a little pillow box gift for you. 

 I've been on Pinterest a lot lately looking for ideas on how to wrap Christmas presents. Anyway, I found a gift wrapped in this color combination and a similar pattern. So I took that inspiration and made a card and a little gift packaging for today.

I stamped different snowflakes from Folk Art Flurries and heat embossed them to make the background for the card. I used silver, gold and white embossing powders. Then I used distress ink around the edges and around the white embossed snowflakes to make them pop. I used Oatmeal cardstock for this. I have been using a LOT of Oatmeal cardstock these days. I absolutely love it! :)

I die cut a tag and stamped it with Country Charm to make the striped background on it. Then I layered a few die cuts on it. The Simple Snowflake Die on the bottom, then the Clear Cut Stackers: Stars over that, and finally the Seasonal Sentiments Die on top for my main sentiment. I know I'm supposed to pick just one stamp set and 1 die and use them, but I couldn't help myself!!! WPlus9 stamps and dies are so versatile you can combine them to suit your needs! And you know how I love to combine different stamps and dies. :)

I also sprinkled a little glitter on the Hope die cut. Then I added a ribbon, some baker's twine and bells to finish off the tag. 

 For the Kraft Pillow Box, I made another tag to add to it. I made another striped one, this time horizontal. I embossed a snowflake from Folk Art Flurries on the bottom corner. Then I adhered Joy and a snowflake die both from Seasonal Sentiments Die on it. To finish it off , I used Baker's twine to attach the tag onto the pillow box and added the star from Clear Cut Stackers: Star on it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I used the Natural Wafer Board on the stars so that it would be a little bulkier than just cardstock. 

 

 There you go! Do you want to win all those goodies mentioned above? All you have to do is leave a comment on each of the DT members' blogs! That's 9 chances to win!!! You can comment until December 30, then Dawn will pick ONE lucky winner on the 1st of January! What a great way to end this year and start a new one!!! 

Make sure you head on over to Kerrianne's blog because she has something for you as well. Here's the line up for the rest of the week.

Wednesday 12/26 ­- Jinny Newlin & Lea Lawson
Thursday 12/27 -­ Sarah Martina Parker & Savitri Wilder
Friday 12/28 - Dawn Woleslagle

Merry Christmas everyone!!!! :)

WPlus9 A Very Merry Giveaway!!!

                         

Hello! It's been a while since I posted anything here. So sorry. Things have become hectic because of the holidays. My husband and I are such last minute people that we've been rushing with last minute gift buying and wrapping. BAD!!! I know!!!

I have just the perfect way to make it up to you all!!! WPlus9 is having A Very Merry Giveaway!!! Yay! Look at this!!!!

OMGoodness!!! That's a LOT of goodies!!!! The design team will be posting a card using a stamp set and die of their choice, from December 24 until the 28th. Here's the schedule so you know where to go...

Monday 12/24 -­ Cristina Kowalczyk & Elise Durenberger

Tuesday 12/25 -­ Jean Martin & Kerrianne Bowen

Wednesday 12/26 ­- Jinny Newlin & Lea Lawson

Thursday 12/27 -­ Sarah Martina Parker & Savitri Wilder

Friday 12/28 - Dawn Woleslagle 

All you have to do is leave a comment on the blogs for 8 chances to win the BIG prize!!! You have until December 30 to leave a comment before Dawn chooses ONE random winner on January 1st to win the entire lot! :) Here's a little sneak peek of mine! For more info, head on over to the WPlus9 Design Blog. Good luck everyone! Have a happy, happy Christmas and a blessed New Year!!!

Christmas Tree

Hello everyone! I know it's been quiet around here for days now. I've been very busy wrapping gifts, writing cards and baking. I know I promised you a picture of the tree and here it is. I was making some sugar cookies when I realized that I still haven't taken any pictures of the tree to show you! So I took some even if it was at night. Hopefully the pictures still came out great.

I took some close up shots of some of my favorite ornaments. Here's my hand made one that made it to the tree! :) I had absolutely no time to make any more so there were only a few of these around the tree.

Some of the ornaments I got from Target, the others from Michael's. This is my favorite. It's a glass ornament I got from Target.  

I also found some jeweled ones in Michael's. I came in at the right time when they were having a great sale and I also had a coupon for 30% off your entire purchase including sale items! :)

I love the glass balls as well as the wood ornaments. I thought the wood ornaments brought some shabby chic into the equation. :)

OK. So I couldn't take a picture of the ENTIRE tree because I had made a big mess in the kitchen that I didn't want all of you to see. Hahaha. 

I'll be back soon with some cards! Enjoy the holidays! :)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 128

Hiya! It's me again! I hope you're not tired of seeing Christmas cards yet! Because I have one more for you! This one is for Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 128. This one is from Kim Duran. It's wonderfully layered. Just how I like it. I don't know why. But I just love adding on to my cards. I always have to try to stop myself. lol. :)

This sketch will be a two-week long challenge. We know how busy everyone gets during this time of the month. And so to give everyone plenty of time to join, we're extending the challenge to two weeks. 

For my card, I made a Western themed Christmas card. I'm sure you won't see a lot of those! But I just LOVE Claire's Western themed stamp sets. Aren't they brilliant?! :)

 Ok. So you know I'm recently in love with woodgrain embossing. I can't help myself! I found this Tim Holtz embossing folder yesterday when I was over at my local Michael's. Of course I had to use it. It's perfect for my Western themed card. 

 I haven't used this cute Sheriff stamp since I got it. I grabbed the chance to use it for this one. Too many stamps too little time!!!! lol! I heat embossed it with this dark gold embossing powder and hand cut it after.  Then I stamped a sentiment from Yonder Star on a piece of vellum and cut that too. 

 I stamped two strips of oatmeal cardstock (WPlus9) with this stars banner from Way Out West. I inked them and adhered them over my embossed oatmeal cardstock background. I love this subtle almost completely neutral card. I added the ribbon, baker's twine and bells to soften the look a bit. :)

I have just the little cowgirl in mind that I wanted to give this card to. :) So please join us  over at Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge, for some fun before the holiday breaks loose! lol! Thanks for stopping by today! :)

I'm still waiting for nice lighting to take pictures of our Christmas tree. Lately it's been so gloomy that all the pictures I've taken with it have not been good. I was thinking of getting a separate flash for my camera. But I have no idea what to get. :( Any suggestions? My camera is a Canon Eos Rebel T3i. Thanks again! 

CASE Study Challenge 121

Christmas is inching its way closer and closer. I finally have all of our gifts and I'm almost done with gift wrapping as well. I think I've made enough Christmas cards for everyone we want to send one too. If not, I actually have emergency store bought cards. :)

If you're still making cards to send out here's a great inspiration card from our December Muse Windy Robinson. This is for CASE Study Challenge 121. This challenge is going to go on for two weeks so you'll have more than enough time to join us. :)

I borrowed the layout of the inspiration card and some of the elements that Windy added to it. Like the little noel banner, the ribbon and bells. I also stamped the background repeatedly with these little stars from WPlus9 - Iconic Christmas.

I also stamped the little girl and Christmas tree onto their coordinating dies. These are also from Iconic Christmas. This set has so many wonderful images. I'm sure you will find more than one to your liking. :)

I also stamped a flourish from Waltzingmouse Stamps - Flourishes:Scallops and Dots. At the end of the flourish I adhered a snowflake die cut from WPlus9 - Seasonal Sentiments Dies. I stamped the Noel sentiment on a trip of cardstock then I cut one end to make the banner flaps. I added it onto the cards with foam adhesive.

 For the bottom portion of the card, I cut a strip of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye and ran it through my Cuttlebug with...YES...you guessed it...my woodgrain impression plate...AGAIN. Didn't I tell you I love this impression plate?! :)

I tied a ribbon around the card and added some baker's twin and two bells.

That's it for me today! I hope to see your submission(s) over at CASE Study Challenge Blog. I'll be back again this weekend with another card. I'll see you then! Enjoy the rest of your week!

 

The Craft's Meow Valentine/Love Blog Hop

Hello! Hello! I'm back with a card for you today. It's for The Craft's Meow Valentine/Love Blog Hop. For this blog hop the different TCM design team members were given their choice of Valentine/Love TCM stamps to use on their projects. 

I decided to go with Celebrating You and Sent With Love. I made a simple card for this blog hop. I was browsing through Pinterest and found this color combination in one of the photos there. I love using gray for my projects, specially in combination with neutral colors. To me it's wonderfully modern and elegant. 

I apologize for the bad quality of the photos. It was gloomy again when I took this picture.  Photoshop has been helping a lot but not enough. 

 

I stamped the beautiful flower image from Celebrating You and the sentiment from Sent with Love and ran the cardstock through my Cuttlebug with a woodgrain impression plate. I am in love with my woodgrain impression plate. lol. :)

 The Craft's Meow is offering a 15% off Sale on 9 Valentine/Love sets from today through December 16. There's also a stamp set up for grabs! TCM is offering All You Need is Love to one lucky winner who leaves a comment on the TCM Store Blog. So come join us! Here's the list of the Blog Hop participants.

Ivana Camdzic
Iwona Palamountain
Jean Martin
Jennifer Cuthbertson
Jen del Muro
Jessica Fick
Karen Baker
Lin Brandyberry
Lindsay Amrhein
Nina Brackett
Sharri Seffens
Veronica Zalis

Christmas Packaging/Gift Wrapping

Hi there! I'm sneaking in this small post about a project that I've been wanting to do since I saw it on Pinterest. I have been browsing the "packaging" and "gift wrapping" pins these past few months and am totally in love with the different packaging possibilities out there!

Before I would just buy wrapping paper, wrap the gift and stick a tag on it and call it a day. But after seeing all the beautiful packages on Pinterest I wanted to try my hand at it. I used my Silhouette for the die cuts on my package.

I apologize for the pictures.It was such a gloomy day when I took my pictures and they didn't come out as good as I had hoped they would. Even with Photoshop editing. 

Here's a close-up of the main decoration. It's an "elegant" reindeer I bought off the Silhouette store. Sorry I can't remember who the artist was. But if you type in elegant reindeer I'm sure this will pop up.

  The mom and dad stamped images on the gifts were made with PTI's Alpha Blocks which I specifically bought with this type of packaging in mind.

I hope this gives you a bit more ideas if you were thinking up of sprucing up your gift wrapping this holiday season. Thanks for stopping by today!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 127

It's Saturday and we have another round of Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge for you. I enjoyed perusing everyone's submission last week. It's great to see what people come up with that none of us even thought of. I just love all the inspiration I get each week. I always have a few of my faves each week and each week I hope that they win the prize. 

You have another chance to win a stamp set of your choice too! So join us this week for Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 127. This sketch is from Teresa Kline.

I have been fixated with the woodgrain impression plate for the past few weeks. It's just that I've seen it been used so many times in sooo many wonderful ways. So I made another card with more woodgrain embossing on it. 

For this card I used the following Waltzingmouse stamps: Wayout West, Sewing Box: Christmas, and Compliments of the Season Two.

Instead of the lollipop looking portion of the sketch, I tied an ornament to the top of the card. I added some baker's twine, a button and some leaves to make it more festive.

 I stamped my sentiment over the glittered landscape I made with Wayout West. Then I adhered a strip of stars over it. 

Ok, that's it for me. I'll be busy these following weeks with family that have come to visit and baking. YES! I am trying out baking. I'm afraid I haven't tried that a lot in the past. I'm going to try to make some snowflake sugar cookies. Wish me luck! :)

I'll see you over at the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge Blog. Please come and join us!