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! :)

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! 

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! 

WPlus9 December/January Release Group Post

Congratulations! You made it to the end of the WPlus9 December/January Release! I hope everything was inspirational and fun for you! Dawn put out such awesome stamp set designs! Do you want a chance to win the ENTIRE Release?! Of course you do!!!! And it's so simple too! Just leave a comment on the WPlus9 Design Blog. That's it!

I have two cards for you today, one shabby chic card and another more whimsical and fun card. Let's start! I received some comments on how people were surprised about combining silver/gray and brown/kraft together. So I made another card with a similar color combination to show you how wonderful it works together and why I love the combination so much. I made a "Winter Valentine" card.

 I combined the following stamp sets: Quite Like You, Cupid's Arrow, Damask Delight, Banner Love, XoXo Border Die, Clear Cut Stackers: Hearts, Clear Cut Stackers: Rounded Rectangles, and Damask Delight Dies.

I used WPlus9 Kraft cardstock for my card base and Oatmeal cardstock for my main background panel. I LOVE the Oatmeal cardstock!!! I attached a strip of patterned paper on top of the card and sewed the edge. Then I layered a strip of  Xoxo border on the bottom portion of the patterned paper using Cupid's Bow cardstock.

Just to the side, I stamped the little stitched heart from Banner Love all the way down the side of the card and adhered a tag over it. Afterwards, I stamped an image from Damask Delight under the tag. I tied a ribbon around the front panel and added some Cappuccino baker's twine around it. I found a heart button in my stash and adhered it over both ribbons. Then I die cut the heart die and ran it through my Cuttlebug with a woodgrain embossing folder and inked it with white pigment ink.

I die cut a label using the Clear Cut Stackers: Rounded Rectangles and stamped my sentiment on it. I also stamped the arrow border from Cupid's Arrow on the top and added a Damask Delight die that I heat embossed white on the bottom.

So what do you think? Doesn't gray and kraft/brown work together well? You can also add some pop of color to highlight parts of the card.

 Let's get to my other card for today. So this one is a little different. I decided to go for a whimsical card for this one. Bitty Buddy Valentines is on of my favorite stamp sets from this release. The images are just soooo cute! And that frame is just perfect!!!

I cut a panel of vintage cream cardstock and embossed it with a woodgrain embossing folder. Then I zigzag stitched a strip of kraft on the bottom portion and tied a yellow twill ribbon around it. I finished that part off by adding a Strawberry baker's twine with a tag around it. On that tag I stamped Love from Cupid's Arrow.

 I stamped the frame from Bitty Buddy Valentines and die cut it with Clear Cut Stackers: Rectangles. I also die cut these two penguin dies and stamped the penguins in pink and orange. I attached them on the side of the ribbon.

 Lastly, I stamped these heart banners from Banner Love twice and colored them in with Copic markers. I hand cut the banners and attached them on the top portion of the card.

That's all I have for you today. I'll be busy finishing up Christmas tasks, so I won't have a lot of time to get inky. But hopefully I'll be able to sneak in a card or two in there! In the meantime, head on over to the other WPlus9 DT girls blogs for more inspiration.

Cristina Kowalczyk

Dawn Woleslagle - Owner

Elise Durenberger

Jinny Newlin

Kerrianne Gwin

Lea Lawson

Sarah Martina Parker

Savitri Wilder