It's a scrappy Blog Party .....

.... Good evening - I'm late today with my post, but that's because we went shopping this morning for new winter coats.  Ones that will be just right for winters in Michigan where temperatures can get really low; averages of between 2° to -5°C in December to 0° to -7°C in January and February.  However, there have been record lows of -30°C in January!!!!! And that's COLD.

When I got home I realised that I hadn't made anything for this month's Blog Party over at Waltzingmouse Stamps.  The theme for this month's Blog Party is GRATITUDE.  I opted to do something COMPLETELY different to my usual - I've done a scrapbook layout!!!  I used the layout from the new scrapbook challenge at My Favourite Things.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Pic Nic Patterns, North Shore, My Island, Yonder Star Background, Playful Pinwheels, Blessed by You; My Favourite Things - Document Days & Dates
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Primrose Petals; Memento - Grey Flannel; Stazon - Jet Black
Dies: Die-namics - Jumbo Fishtail Banner STAX
Accessories:  SU Card - Basic Grey, Primrose Petals, Whisper White; Bo Bunn7 - Vicki B Fabuloso; SU Ribbon - Raspberry Ripple; Stickers from stash; Image from Internet

I must apologise for the quality of the photos - it's dark now and I've had to take photos under my daylight bulb - I'll try to replace them tomorrow!  Why is this layout suitable for a theme of Gratitude?  Well, I'm thankful for my family, for the time we get to spend together, for the wonderful holiday we had in California this year, for the love and support of my wonderful husband Jonathan.  The photos show Jonathan and Kathryn having a fabulous time in the sun and at play, and I had lots of fun putting together this layout.  The purple border is not part of the layout - it's simply my foam stamping pad!!

I've taken a few close up shots of the photos and the tag which comes out from behind the photo!   I stamped the panel behind the photos with Yonder Star - seemed appropriate for a California layout

That's all for now - I'm off to get dinner for us all.  I'll be back later to join in the Blog Party.  It's the last one this year and it's a super theme to finish on.  Thanks to all the team at Waltzingmouse for hosting the Blog Party and to Claire for designing such super stamps!  See you soon.

CR84FN67 - Merry Christmas ...

.... I really love our CR84FN67 colours of plum, gold and tan - they are just perfect for making elegant Christmas cards.  Here's another that I made yesterday afternoon.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Vintage Christmas Background, Nordic Winter
Inks: Memento - Sweet Plum; Distress - Dusty Concord, Milled Lavender, Antique Linen
Accessories:  Gold card, gold embossing powder, Gems and card from stash

This is another of the new background stamps from Waltzingmouse - it is so easy to use, and so pretty too.  I layered it on some gold foil card.  Next I stamped the baubles in Versamark and heat embossed with gold powder.  I really like the trio of baubles, but I don't know which company made the stamp; if you know - let me know!  I used my aqua pen and distress inks to colour the ornaments, adding a few gems for sparkle.  I mounted it on to more of the gold card.  I finished with a simple sentiment.

There's still plenty of time to join in with the CR84FN67 challenge.  I have another card to share on Sunday!  Bye for now!

Follow Yonder Star .....

... Good afternoon - back again!!!  I'm making excellent progress with my Christmas cards and have another for you to share.  I used two challenges to make this one:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC123  designed by Lenet Mos
• Colour Throwdown - CTD218 - I adore these colours, and the photo is just fabulous!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Yonder Star Background, Compliments of the Season II, Yonder Star, Seasonal Remedies
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise, Early Espresso; Distress - Tumbled Glass, Broken China
Spellbinders: Small Labels (S4-169) #5; Edge Classic Scallop (E8-001)
Accessories: SEI design paper - Berry Melody; Twine and card from stash

I absolutely love the Yonder Star background stamp - makes wonderful Christmas cards and I can see it working for guy cards too!  So easy to use too - see Claire's tutorial here.  I stamped the background in Soft Suede directly on to the card base.  I don't have SU Cool Caribbean, but I do have some lovely design paper that is almost exactly that colour.  I cut the scallop border with my Spellbinder Edgeabilities.  I made the focal image from the rectangle in Seasonal Remedies - stamped and embossed, the cut out with the small labels die.  While still in the die I shaded with Tumbled Glass and Broken Glass.  Next I made the big star - I inked up with Versamark and then Tempting Turquoise, and then heat embossed with clear powder.  This star is so easy to cut out.  I finished off with the little flag - I had some Yonder Star BG scrap, cut it to size and then stamped this elegant sentiment in Early Espresso.  Here's a close up of the lovely foiled finish on the SEI paper.

Before I go, I'd like to say Hello and Welcome to Michelle Brinker - a new follower; so pleased to have you join me.  It's been a really productive day - both in my craft room and in getting some laundry washed - sadly that means the ironing needs to be done now!!  Bye, see you soon.

Many thanks ....

.... Hi - good to be back!  I spent the day doing house stuff yesterday!  And this morning I've made a thank you card for two challenges:

• CASology - CAS19 - cue word is THANKS
• Do You Stack Up? - DYSU98 - they want a RAINBOW

Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays - Big Thanks; Stamps of Life - Crayons2stamp

Inks: Memento - Lady Bug, Tangelo, Dandelion, Cottage Ivy, Danube Blue, Grape Jelly, Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Card from stash

I love rainbow colours - so bright, so cheerful!  This is an ultra clean and simple design, simply stamped the crayons and drawn line (second impression) onto white card and added the sentiments above.  I really like the different languages - and there are more in the set, but I couldn't fit them on!  I cut the card slightly larger than the card base and adhered with dimensional tape.  Super simple!  

It is a real pain when your stamp-a-ma-jig moves just a bit so that "gracias" is slightly lower than it should be!!!  Dang!!

That's all for now - I'm off to finish my UK Christmas cards - I want to get them written and parcelled up this weekend.  See you soon.

Holly branch ....

... I promise this is the last post for today!  This is another of the cards I made yesterday using embossed card.  This week's challenge at Do You Stack Up? - DYSU97 is leaves and trees.  In keeping with my theme of Christmas cards, I've used a holly branch on my card.

Cuttlebug EF: Holly
Accessories: Coredinations card; Lakeland sentiment tag; Foiled card, ribbon and card base from stash

No stamping on this card.  I used Coredinations card and ran it through my bug, then sanded the design to reveal the warm pink core.  I layered this onto some gold foil card - rounding the corners of each before gluing them together.  I finished off with a pink ribbon and this sweet Christmas tag.  The tag was made by Lakeland (a UK company) and has been in my stash for years!!!

While I had the embossing folders out, I embossed several pieces of Coredinations card - you've already seen some on earlier cards here and here.  Here's another - again no stamping on this one, but I have used some more of my Kanban stash.  It's a very traditional card which, coincidentally, is the theme for this month's challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.

Cuttlebug EF: Allegro
Accessories: Coredinations card; Lakeland sentiment tag; Foiled card, card base from stash


There's still plenty of time to join in with the fun at St Luke's - and we have a super prize too!  Come check it out!  That really is all for today.  I'd better go and do some house type stuff!  See you soon.

Magic of Christmas .....

..... Here's another of the cards that I made yesterday - told you I was busy!!!  This one is for two challenges:

• My Favourite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge - MFTWSC97
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC44 - to use blue

Stamps: MFT - Seasonal Sentiments; Waltzingmouse - Yonder Star Background; Papermania - Christmas sentiments

Inks: Memento - Sky Blue, Danube Blue

Spellbinders: Small Labels (S4-169) #4

Accessories:  Cuttlebug EF - Christmas Stars, Winter Wonderland; Silver foiled card, gems and card from stash

There's very little stamping on this card!!  I've rediscovered my embossing folders and had such fun playing.  I embossed the designs on Coredinations card.  I sanded the large snowflakes to reveal the pale blue core and  used the reverse side for the Christmas stars.  I cut a small tab in the snowflake card.  I really like this bold Christmas sentiment with the little star in the centre - matches!!  I used the Yonder Star background first (very pale, but looks great in real life) and over stamped with the sentiment.  I used scissors to cut the banner end and mounted it onto silver card.  I finished off the front with some square gems from my stash - they are an almost exact match to the Blue Danube ink!  I decorated the inside with a fun Christmas verse.  

Just a couple more to share with you - see my next post!

Tree ornament trio ....

.... Well good morning - what a difference a day makes.  It was cold and grey yesterday, and the best place to be was inside.  I had a fantastic time and really made great progress with my Christmas cards.  I've a set of six cards to share with you this morning - all based on this first card, which was made for these challenges:

• The Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC157
• CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS5

It's not an original idea - in fact three of the Design Team used a trio of Christmas ornaments, but it's sort of classic, so thanks to Therese, Jen and Lisa.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Tree Trimmings (discontinued set)

Inks: SU - Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Early Espresso

Accessories:  Kanban - self adhesive sentiment ribbon; Glitter and card from stash

I went for an ultra CAS design.  For the sentiment panel I used some self adhesive Kanban ribbon that's been in my stash for years!!!  I forgot I had these stamps - they're just the right size to make a pretty trio, so I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position them in a nice group.  I stamped the middle ornament again, cut it out, added some glitter and adhered with dimensional tape.  I liked it so much that I made another five cards - blue (which also fulfils this week's Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC44 to use blue), red, green, yellow and naturals.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Tree Trimmings (discontinued set)
Inks: SU - Pacific Point, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Wild Wasabi, Riding Hood Red, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso; Memento - Cantaloupe, Grey Flannel
Accessories:  Kanban - self adhesive sentiment ribbon; Glitter and card from stash

I have a few more cards to share, but they'll be in a separate post.  See you soon.

Christmas set ....

.... Hi all - hope you had a good weekend.  Ours was super - the weather was so mild yesterday - sunshine, blue skies and warm!  I've had fun in my craft room working on Christmas cards (still have lots to make), but this is a start.  Do you remember this card from last week?  It was design by Karin (my local SU demonstrator) and I made it at a party last week.

I decided to make a set based on the design.  I don't have the embossing folder or the punches, but I do have the ornament stamps and punch, and it was easy to make the cut out with Spellbinder dies.  I used a variety of Cuttlebug folders to emboss my backgrounds, a selection of ribbons - some even matched the colour of the card!!  All the card is from Stampin' Up! - do like the colours - I had fun working out different combinations.  Some work better than others :)  What I did discover is that not all glitters are created equal!!  Without a doubt Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds is the best (and I don't have any), so while you can see the image beautifully on the dark blue bauble above, it's not as clear on the rest of the set!!  Here they are:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Contempo Christmas, Delightful Decorations; Waltzingmouse - Compliments of the Season, Compliments of the Season II, Christmas Cottage
Inks: SU - Concord Crush, Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Gumball Green, Regal Rose, Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple
Spellbinders: Circles (S4-116) #5, Scalloped Circles Lg (S4-124) #2
Embossing Folders: Cuttlebug - Distressed Snow, Ice Crystals, Winter Wonderland; Papermania - Snowflakes
Accessories: SU Card - Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Soft Suede, Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals; Ribbons - various

I have not included details of the middle blue card (you can find them here).  Here are close up photos of each card.  You can see that on some of the ornaments the adhesive has wrinkled a bit - another thing I discovered some adhesive sheets don't stay stuck down!!  The first card I made was this pink one - I embossed the card before cutting out the circle - so the design was flattened!  Still it works!  Not sure that the Soft Suede and Garden Green work very well.

All the cards have a greeting inside - mostly the one shown below.

I had lots of fun making this set. I'll have a few more sets of cards to share with you over the next week or two - I think I still have about 40 cards to make!  See you soon.