Double Thanks

I made this card for a few challenges, Mojo119 and FBW90. The sentiment is from Everyday Thanks, perfect for this time of year. I am so thankful for all my wonderful blogging friends, who are there for me when I need them.

I used paper from October Afternoon's Report Card, it is sooooo pretty. The circle, label, and butterfly were cut using my Cricut (sorry Allison!) I just added some pearls and cute ribbon to complete it.

No big plans for us tonight, we'll probably be asleep before the New Year rolls around. I do have hopes that this year will be better for us, 2009 was pretty rough!

Precious Friends

I have had this stamp, Fairy Friends, for quite a while and am just now inking it up. I'm soooo bad!! This was a favorite when it was released too, still is. The sentiment is a good one too, perfect for many occasions!

The papers are from American Crafts and BoBunny, same as yesterday. What can I say, I'm hooked on the pattern and color combo at the moment.

Sweet Treats

I wanted to lighten things up and decided to use some spring colors for my project today. I used Christi fairy and some fun papers from American Crafts and BoBunny. I'll be heading to HL today to get some new paper since it's on sale this week.

I cut the basket from my Cricut Expression and had a devil of a time getting it put together. LOL But, it did eventually work out. I also cut the fleur-de-lis border found on the card from my Cricut, super easy and oh so convenient. *I don't know why I never think to sprinkle some of the treats about when I take the photo.

Tiny Gift Bags

Thanks to everyone for the kind words, prayers, and thoughts for me and my family. My grandpa was pretty special to me since he was the only one that I knew, my paternal grandfather died when I was an infant. Anyway, he and my grandma always made our visits memorable and we were always so excited to see them. We knew we'd get to go feed the ducks in a nearby pond, eat popsicles, and play with toys from the toy drawer. I'll miss him so much.

I cut both these tiny bags out on my Cricut yesterday, just playing around. But, since I had to package some earrings for a few of the gals at work as a belated Christmas gift, I thought it fitting to dress them up a bit.

I definitely need to invest in some 12x12 cardstock since I have none; I honestly don't have all that much 12x12 dp either. Just when I thought I had my spending under control too! LOL

I am back at work today only, then off for the remainder of the week. I am so happy about that, I am enjoying my time off in a big way. And yesterday, I baked two loaves of banana bread, the Martha Stewart recipe. It is delish!!

I am slowing trying to get in the habit of stamping again, I can't tell you how long it's been that I was at my craft table and completed a project in one sitting. I mostly don't feel like crafting, so much else to do, I suppose. But, piddling around, playing with papers and stamps have put me in the mood to create again. I hope this feeling sticks around for a while.

Sadness

Yesterday morning, my grandfather passed away. He suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for many years and his body just gave out.

I will be taking a few days off from the blog, hope you understand.

Madelyn Prays

This is Madelyn, she was released earlier this month from Paper Makeup Stamps. I used Ballet Blue cardstock from SU, it's one of my favorite of their blues.

I decided to die cut the image using Labels One Nesties, they are still on sale here. Her wings are slathered with stickles, I love sparkle on fairy wings.

Thank goodness for pre-colored images, I didn't have alot of time for this card. The fellas seem to want to monopolize my time. LOL

Merry Christmas M4TW09

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends and family!

Hope your day is filled with love and joy!

This week's Makeup For The Weekend challenge was to make a holiday scrapbook page. Oy, what a challenge! It has been years and years since I have scrapbooked, and even then I was not good at it.

So clean and simple, I decided, was the way to go. The white cardstock was stamped with various snowflakes from Snow Happy. Then, I used some circle nesties to simulate an ornament; adding the tab and gold cording completes the look.

The date was cut using my Cricut Expression, I made it myself using SCAL. Super convenient, gotta love that! I still have alot to learn about it, but it was not all that difficult to figure out for this small project.

I'll be sending this to a friend of mine for a belated Christmas gift, she will be able to use a picture of her children on this page.

You can find all the deets for this challenge on the PMS blog. If you play along, use the keyword M4TW09 when you upload to any public gallery. Then, be sure to link it to the PMS blog so that we can ooh and ahh over it. We love doing that!

Birthday Hi

I got the chance to use Sailing By again, this time making a card for my dad's birthday. It is just perfect for masculine cards, I am so happy this set came along when it did.

This color combo is one I rely on for male cards, it's just classic. The boat was colored with copics and then a bit of texture was added to the sails by dabbing on colorless blender solution with a paper towel. It really aged it well.

I used a fun punch from EK Success for the wave border and then added some piercing detail next to the sentiment. Lastly, I tied on some jute and called it done.

I am so excited to see the boy's face come Christmas morning. We didn't shower him with tons of gifts, but he got most of what he asked for and a few things he didn't. His whole Christmas list fit onto a post it, how cute is that?

Like a Flower

Another super simple card, I know I keep saying that. It's almost a one layer card too, score! I used a couple of PTI sets on this colorful number.

Today I will be finishing up my Christmas shopping and picking up Christmas dinner makings. A quick clean of the house and then chillin' out for the next few days doing a whole big bunch of nothing. Thankfully, all our snow is gone and the fair weather has returned.

Noel

Such a cute angel from CC Designs; simply paired with adorable papers. The image was die cut with nesties, then embellished with flatback pearls. Lastly, stickles were added to her wings.

Today is my dad's birthday, we'll all heading to their home to celebrate Christmas a little early with them. He and my mother will be going out of town to spend Christmas with his family this year.

Snow Sucks

ETA: Our electricity service was restored this morning, thank heavens!

We didn't get tons of snow, but what we got was a wet, heavy snow. It wreaked havoc on the power lines and I have been without power since late Friday night. They are expecting that we will be without power for another 2 or more days. It really sucks because I just finished grocery shopping and have about $200 worth of food potentially going bad as I type.

We are staying with my parents until the electricity returns.

I head back to work tomorrow. I'll catch up with everyone as soon as possible. I don't mind taking breaks from creating or blurfing, but forced breaks are the worst.

Present Parade

I made this a few months back for a Manufacturer Spotlight of My Favorite Things stamps for Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. I love the MFT stamps, so it was such a pleasure to create some cards using their line of stamps.

This cute dinosaur comes bearing gifts. He was colored with Copics and then simply embellished with some Basic Grey papers and some rhinestones.

I only have two days of work this week, then 5 days off. I tell ya, it's nice to have these breaks, especially during the holidays.

Into the Pink

This little snowman is just adorable, but I can't remember where I got him. He is a digital stamp, so if you know, please email me so that I can give credit.

I went with another super simple layout, MOJO114 to be exact.

I am going to pick up my niece's later this morning, they will both be spending the night.

It started snowing yesterday afternoon, huge, wet flakes. I pray it doesn't make driving impossible. Victoria and Cody have elaborate plans to play the Wii and Veronica is reading the Twilight series after seeing New Moon. She needs the fourth book, so I'll be letting her borrow mine. Of course, if she's not Team Edward, I might have to put the smackdown on her. LOL

Traditional M4TW08

Our Makeup for the Weekend challenge this week is to use the traditional Christmas colors of red, green, and white.

I used my favorite snowman and snowflakes from Snow Happy. He's die cut using Labels 8 nesties, I just saw that Katie has these on sale! Very simple and festive card, perfect for the season.

The ornament was cut with the Cricut, using the Joys of the Season cartridge. I hope I find some more time to use it, there are some great images on it.


If you decide to play along, please use the keyword M4TW08 when you upload to any public gallery. Then link it to the PMS blog so we can comment on it, we love to do that.

Skunkapoo

Another fun image from Whimsy Stamps, how sweet is that skunk? Once I cut the image out with Nesties, I colored the grass and sponged the sky background.

The mojo and desire to stamp has been non-existent over the course of the last few weeks. Hopefully I will have the urge to whip something up this weekend.

Fairy Princess

This image is from Whimsy Stamps, super adorable. I colored her to match my papers and then used the colorless blender to remove some of the color from the pleats in her gown.

Welcome Baby

I just adore this cutie patootie image from Pink Cat Studio. I used some non-traditional papers and colors just to mix it up a bit. Not everything needs to be pastel for babies.

Short week for me this week, only three days of work and then four off. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of producing another magazine, so it won't be a slow week. Perhaps that means that it'll go by faster since I will be busy, busy, busy.

To Go

I found these to go cups at our local Dollar Tree a month ago and finally got around to getting one decorated. I cut Kraft paper with the template provided and then stamped it with the sentiment and coffee bean image from Caffeine Trip.

I bought more the other day so that I could make some simple gifts for the folks at the office. Nearly all of them are coffee drinkers, so this should be perfect. I'll just be using dp for them, it'll be much easier on me than all that stamping. Now, just to find the time to cut the paper.

Crazy For Cupcakes

I did this card back in the summer for a Manufacturer Spotlight at Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. This is Star's Slumber Party from Our Craft Lounge. I airbrushed the Spellbinders flowers to add a little more pizzazz.

Makeup For The Weekend Challenge 7

The challenge for this weekend is a sketch, you can see it here. I veered from the sketch a bit, but it's still noticeable.

I used this cute smallish snowman for the main image and then used some die cuts from my Cricut Expression for the snowflakes. They are really flowers, but I think they pass for the white stuff. Then I bedazzled them with some stickles for the finishing touch.

Please play along with us this week, we love to see your work. Just use the keyword M4TW07 when you upload to any public gallery.

Maisy in Autumn

I used this adorable Maisy Ketto for the Stamping Bella spotlight at Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. These images are small, but are so full of detail. I added some stickles to her wings as well.

Due to strong winds, we lost power yesterday at about 2:45 pm and didn't get it back until late into the night. You never realize how much you rely on electricity until you don't have any.

Sailing In

This little fella is Dylan, named after Christi's son. He's fabulously cute and oh so fun to color. I paired him with some bright, fun papers from American Crafts.

Hoping to find a little time to play with my Cricut Expression today, I got a great deal on it a few weeks ago and haven't had any time to create with it. I hope to get the Sure Cuts Alot software as well, then you can cut any true type font and other types of files. I think I'll get my money's worth out of it.

Tower of Gifts

This is another Stamping Bella card for the feature at Scrapbook News and Review. They have some fun stamps, I find them so whimsical and funky, refreshing. How fun is that stack of prezzies?!

Here, I paired the image with some bright papers from American Crafts, SU, and PTI. I love the pop that the black cardstock gives each layer.

PMS December Release Blog Hop

It's Release Day at Paper Makeup Stamps! We always celebrate the release with a blog hop. Be sure to start here to see everything from the beginning.

This is Scott, isn't he wonderful?! I paired him with some fun paper from Making Memories, the layout is from Card Positioning Systems, I believe.

I also created this ship from a pattern found on SCS. The sails are made from the Labels 8 Nesties, I just airbrushed several different shades of brown around the edges of the die.


At each stop on the hop, you will find a letter to this month's code that allows you to save 15% on all the new releases. The letter I have for you is F.

Now, you need to hop over to see what Randee has for you.

Our Release Party is tonight in the Paper Makeup Forum; the festivities begin at 9:00 pm EST. Sure hope we see you there!

PMS December Sneak Peeks, Day 3

There are some wonderful quotes being released this month from Paper Makeup Stamps. I chose this one by Dolly Parton, mostly because it is so true. But, she is originally from the area where I work, it's hard not to be influenced by her in some way.

I used the cute little sailboat from Sailing By, stamping it onto Kraft cardstock. Once I airbrushed the quote, I used a washcloth moistened with colorless blender solution to add texture to the ink. My thought was to make it look weathered and similar to a sail's texture.

Head on over to the PMS blog to see what other quotes and word art are being released this month. I said it before, but this has truly been one of my favorite releases, perhaps because the images and quotes are so versatile; and because, in great part, this month has been themed.

Tomorrow is Release Day, are you excited?! The Paper Makeup Artists will be celebrating with a blog hop. Then be sure to join us later in the PMS Forum for good times and prizes. The party starts at 9:00 PM EST.

You'll also want to see this post, it's the 9th Countdown to Christmas sale.