Friday, December 31, 2010

Melonie Mouse


Good Morning and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!!!

I can't tell you how strange it is to be making Christmas Cards last week and a Valentine today.

My term with the Sweet 'n Sassy DT is coming to an end today after 21 months. I find it hard to believe that it's been that long. As my final DT card, I used a soon-to-be released Pre-colored Digi called Melanie Mouse. 
The papers are all from a Close to my Heart paper pack called That's Amore.

The hand stitching was done with Ecru Embroidery Floss.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Snow Friends - SSS87

Well, here we are just one week until Christmas! 
I'm not wishing my life away, BUT, I hop the winter goes as fast as the rest of this year went. I hate this cold weather.I guess if I never had to leave the house until Spring, I'd be fine.

My card today is a combination of a special swap card I had to make and the Sketch challenge over at The Sweet Stop Sketch Blog. I LOVE the sketches that Korin has each week. So, if you've never played along and you need some inspiration to get your mojo going, I suggest you play along sometime.

This time of year, I really need to kill two birds with one stone and this worked out perfectly. It should have been finished last night, but I did a really stupid thing. I tried to scan the card when I thought all of the liquid applique, that I used for the snow, was dry. Well, it wasn't completely dry and when I took it from the scanner, I had quite a mess on the card and the scanner. So, I had to make another image and try again. This time I left the LA dry before heating. I like this appearance much better. It doesn't get as bumpy and has a smoother appearance. However, I didn't make it in time to post on the challenge blog along with the other DT cards.

The papers I used are from the Magnifique Paper Collection from Close to my Heart. The image is called Snow Friends, also from CTMH. 

One of the requirements of the swap is to use two embellishments togeher. So, I took a clear button, punched a small circle in white and a snowflake in blue and glued them to the back of the clear button (also from CTMH), then I added a blue sparkle to the center.  Lots of sparkle on this card.

The Hand Stitching around the card was done with matching Embroidery Floss.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

FSS - Winter Chickadee - SSS86

Well, here it is Saturday already and only two more weeks until Christmas. I've been having an issue with tendonitis in my thumb for the past week so I don't even have my Christmas cards made yet.  I'm hoping it feels better by Monday and then I'm spending the whole week making them. But I guarantee you one thing, they won't have hand stitching on them! *Ü*

My card today was inspired by a sketch at The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge. Korin always has the greatest sketches so if you need some inspiration too, hope on over and play along with us this week.

The papers and Ribbon are all from the Mistletoe collection from Close to my Heart.

The Chickadee is from the Christmas Birds Series from Fred She Said. This image is one of three birds that comes in digi or pre-colored format.
The Hand Stitching was done with matching Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenge Blogs this card was made for:
Digi's With Attitude - Anything Goes

Thursday, December 9, 2010

FSS - Wreath &Christmas Rose


I love playing along with the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. For this card, I used the Fred She Said Christmas Wreath and the Christmas Rose. Both come in Digi or pre-colored. As much as I love coloring with Copic Markers, I chose the pre-colored images for my card just to get it done faster.

I love this wreath and I love the candles and roses so I decided to combine the two. This is the beauty of Digi's. You can make them what ever size you need. I think I may have to make a similar card in a 5.5 x 5.5 card so I can make the wreath bigger. Christmas card making may be coming to an end, but I think these images would make beautiful Winter Birthday Cards too.

I used Red Embroidery Floss for the Hand Stitching.

Other Challenge Blogs this card was mae for:
A Spoonful of Sugar - A Christmas Card
Tuesday Taggers - Deck the Halls
Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Jeffrey with Santa

I don't have a card to share today so I thought I would post a picture of my Grandson on his first visit with Santa. He's almost 17 months old and didn't like sitting on a strangers lap. This picture makes me smile!!!
His sister wasn't along that day so I hope we can get a picture of her with Santa too. 

Monday, December 6, 2010

Paperwhites - MMSC82

I thought I'd never get this card finished. I kept changing it because there was always something I didn't like about it. I have to tell you though that it looks so much better in person. It's night time and I had to scan it rather then take a picture of it.

I made this card for Two of the Flourishes Challenges. The first is the Timeless Tuesday Challenge to make a Christmas card with a flower other than a Poinsettia.  However, I must have missed the deadline for my submission to this one. But, I used the Flourishes Paperwhites Stamp set.  Their second challenge was The Winter White Challenge.
It's hard to tell from the photo but the image was stamped with Detail Gold Embossing Powder as was  some of the paper panel edges. The Ribbon is gold and the matting behind the image is gold.

The card was inspired also by a Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #82 I usually go with the fancy sketch but this time it just didn't work with my stamped image.

The Hand Stitching around the card was done with Gold Metalic Embroidery Floss. This was one of the thing that was giving me a problem. It is very hard to work with. 

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Winter Basket - SSS85


Here is one of my favorite Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Images. It's called Winter Basket.  I printed it the size I needed and colored it with Copic Markers.

The inspiration for this card came from this weeks sketch over at The Sweet Stop. If you need some weekly inspiration, try the sketches there. They are some of the best.

The papers I used are some retired Christmas papers from Close to my Heart.
I also used one of my new Nesties called Beaded Ovals.
The Hand Stitching was done with Red Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenge Blogs this card was made for:
ABC Christmas Challenge - "Y" is for Yuletide
AI FActory - Winter
Glitterbabes - Buttons
Twisted Thursday - Holidays with Buttons and Bow

Thursday, December 2, 2010

FSS Ornament #2

This week Fred She Said Store if sponsoring the Betty Bee’s Buzz Challenge Blog. You can pick up a freebie from Fred, so, why not play along and get a chance at winning a $20 gift certificate for the Fred She Said Store. You will be amazed at how much you can get for so little money.

My card today was inspired by this weeks sketch over at The Critter Sketch Challenge Blog. But the main inspiration came from this gorgeous Christmas Ornament #2. The image comes with or without the Holly.

I printed the ornament twice, colored them with Copic Markers then cut the ornament out of the one, used foam tape and layered it for more dimension. I added some red stickles to the red part of the ornament so it looks like little red beads.



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Cocoa's Stocking - SC309

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I actually can't believe that it's December 1st already. The time is just flying by and I hardly have any Christmas cards made. I think I'm going to have to concentrate on them for the next two weeks.

I was so excited to get this card made today to try out my new camera that Santa brought me early. Don't you just love Black Friday specials!!! I've been wanting a Digital SLR camera for years now. And of course I have to learn how to use all the bells and whistles before Christmas, right!!! My old camera was only 6 years old but very obsolete. It only had 3.1 MP and hasn’t been taking very good pictures of my cards lately. My new baby has 18 MP. Woo Hoo!!! Anyway, enough about my camera. Onto my card.

I played along with the Splitcoast Stampers Wednesday Sketch Challenge.

The Digi Image I used is called Cocoa’s Stocking. This is a new release today from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps. You may want to head on over and check out all the new digi releases for this month. I printed him out and colored him with Copic Markers.

I punched out several pine sprigs in white, glittered them, and used them as embellishments to finish off the focal point.

I used some Basic Grey paper for the base and then used my cuttlebug embossing folders for the next two layers. I thought the brick wall looked cute behind Cocoa.
I also used my new Labels 15 Nesties

I added liquid appliqué and glitter to the top of the stocking and yellow glitter to the star.

The hand stitching was done with red Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenge Blogs this card was made for:
Digital Tuesday - Animals at Christmas
A Crafty Little Place - Anything Goes
Cards For Men - Christmas