My First Card for 2012

...and it's a Christmas card! Go figure, right? When I saw that my friend Lesley had posted a Christmas sketch challenge on her blog, I was immediately inspired to create. She's calling it "Merry Monday" and the goal is to make a Christmas card every week this year to get a head start on your holiday cards. CLICK HERE for all the details. Lesley's sketches ROCK!! Admittedly, I was getting a bit tired of Christmas cards, but MY cards were late this year. Some still need to be sent off, actually..shameful, I know. I think I can really benefit from Lesley's challenges. 

Here is the Merry Monday sketch for the week: 

Although this is a Christmas card, I tried to shake it up a bit with some non-traditional colors. I used the (ret.) Jolly Old Saint Nick stamp set paired with some new goodies from the upcoming SU! Sale-A-Bration event, which begins January 24th. You can earn the Everyday Enchantment DSP and Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack for FREE with a qualifying order. How cool is that? 

I colored the image in with markers and then dressed it up with some sponged edges and Dazzling Details glitter glue. It's tough to see but the buttons have a pop of Crystal Effects on them as well. All of the supplies used are listed at the end of the post. Here is a quick shot of the inside of the card, too: 

Before I go, I wanted to share a cute gift I received this Christmas from my blogging friends Shirley and Terry, from A La Card Monkey. Shirley makes these absolutely adorable owls (click her name above to check out her blog) and it was such a sweet surprise when I found him in my mailbox. I have affectionately dubbed him Owen and he is proudly displayed in my stamp studio. He's SO cute!! Thanks gals, I love him! :) 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you get the chance to check out Lesley's blog and play along in her Merry Monday challenges. Have a very HAPPY day! 

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Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick and Petite Pairs
Paper: Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and Very Vanilla card stock
Ink: Basic Black and Crumb Cake (for sponged edges) Classic ink 
Accessories: Small Oval (ret.), Scallop Trim Border punch, Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack (SAB), Basic Pearls, Stamping Sponges, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and Basic Gray Stampin' Write Markers, Dazzling Details glitter glue, Crystal Effects and Stampin' Dimensionals 
Non SU! Accessories: frosty blue marker for the "sky", oval and scalloped oval die cuts 

Ho-Ho-Home for the Holidays - OCC Theme Challenge

Hello there! Happy Christmas Eve to you! I am super-duper late with my card for this week's challenge over at Our Creative Corner. (Sorry!) This week has been busy, busy and I ran out of time yesterday to get my post ready. Eeek! This week at OCC, Sharon W. is our hostess and she has a fun Theme Challenge for us: 

For this week's challenge, we would like you to use the scene in your own home for your inspiration. You can use the decorations on your Christmas tree, a center piece from your dining room table, the winter wonderland seen from your front door, or the wreath on your front door. Whatever your inspiration, please share that with us, in your paper craft item. You can create a card, a layout, a 3-D item, an altered item; whatever your paper crafting heart desires. The only requirement - show us some glimmer/sparkle!

I paired it up with the sketch from Stamping 411...except I accidentally flip-flopped the bow and the sentiment. (I hope that is still ok, ladies!) That will teach me to actually jot the sketch down next time. Sheesh! This is such a fun layout, I love all the different layers! 

I added a lot of little details to the Santa image. His gloves, belt and boots are topped off with Crystal Effects for some shine. All of his fur trim is glittered up and I paper pieced his bag o' presents with some textured card stock...because I really messed up trying to watercolor it. I actually like the texture of the bag better anyway, so I will act like I meant to do it from the start. Finally, I used a clear glitter pen to add a tiny bit of shimmer to his red suit. Santa is rocking the sparkle and shine, indeed! 

So where did my inspiration come from? I focused in on two of my favorite holiday decorations this year.  First, a plush Santa that my husband and I picked up at Nordstrom the first year we were married. This little guy has seen many holidays and every year he still brings a smile to my face when I take him out of that shiny silver box. 

Next, I was inspired by some pretty famous shoes. One of my favorite ornaments on our Red and Gold tree (we have 6 trees, in total, this year) has to be these "ruby slippers". What gal doesn't want their very own pair to prance around town in? I know I'm not the only one! *sigh* The quote on the ornament makes me happy, too. Although I wanted to go full-on sparkle on my card, I added just a pop of Glimmer Paper, because just like the shoes, it is meant to "accessorize". 

I sure hope you can join us this week at Our Creative Corner and play along with some holiday inspiration from your home. Stop by and see what the rest of the Design Team has created, too. Thanks so much for stopping by today! We are off to have dinner with friends and to see the Christmas lights downtown on the Riverwalk tonight. Can you believe it is already Christmas tomorrow? Wow!! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season so far! 

Have a HAPPY day! :) 

SU! Stamps: Petite Pairs (sentiment) and Jolly Old Saint Nick (ret.) 
SU! Paper: Letters to Santa DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper, Red Glimmer Paper, Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Old Olive and Very Vanilla card stock

Our Creative Corner Fabulous Face Off

Hello stamping friends! This week at Our Creative Corner we have a theme challenge for you. The marvelous Marjie is our hostess again this week and she has focused us on "Fabulous Faces". Here are the challenge deets from our lovely hostess: 

"Whether you like stamping, card making, altered arts, scrapbooks or collage, I bet faces have played a part of your artwork at some point.  Show us what you’ve got… whether you like vintage ladies in lace or fresh and funky kids…. steampunk engineers or shabby chic chicks…. even photos of yourself or your family.  Please show us your favorite faces this week."

For my card, I went with a "famous face". You may have heard of this guy. "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows if you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good...so be good, for goodness sake." You know, if you really think about it, those song lyrics kind of make Santa sound a little like a STALKER, don't they? Yikes! ;)

I colored Jolly Old Saint Nick with a variety of tools including: watercolor pencils, Aqua Painters with ink pads, markers and some glamerous glitter. My little pearl accents are covering up a boo-boo. See that Stampin' Up! logo in the corner on the DSP? (If you don't, that is ok, please don't look for it! Haha!) I meant to flip that around..whoops. Pearls to the rescue! 

*My layout was very loosely based on this week's Create with Connie and Mary sketch. They have a slanted element in their sketch and I just couldn't get it to work correctly with Santa's ginormous head. So, I will be giving the sketch another go for a different card. *sigh*

Finally, here is a quick shot of the inside of the card. All of the supplies used to create the card are listed below.

Please hop on over to the Our Creative Corner site and play along with us this week. We can't wait to see your smiling face along with your project with this theme. Check out what the rest of the fabulous Design Team has created for inspiration this week, as well. These gals are awesome, let me tell you! 


Have a fantastic day today! :) 
Hugs, 


Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick (ret.) and Snow Swirled (inside sentiment)
Paper: Letters to Santa DSP, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Versamark, Basic Black, Crumb Cake (for sponging around the edges) and Riding Hood Red Classic ink
Accesories: Chocolate Chip 1/2" Scallp Dots ribbon (which looks more like Early Espresso to me), Scallop Edge Border punch, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Aqua Painters, Watercolor Pencils, Sahara Sand Stampin' Write marker, Clear Embossing Powder, Stamping Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Pearls and Snow Burst Embossing foder

Paper Player's Challenge #27-Make a Christmas Project

Happy Sunday and welcome to another fun challenge at The Paper Players! This week the theme is to make a Christmas (or holiday) card or project. Easy peasy, right? Please stop by The Paper Players blog and see what the fabulous design team has whipped up for your creative inspiration and join in the fun! I don't know about you but I am absolutely in the holiday spirit lately. Finishing up some last minute Christmas cards to send off to spread that holiday cheer. I couldn't wait to use my Jolly Old Saint Nick set from the Holiday Mini catty for this card. 

I decided to use a LOT of sparkle on this one...I just want someone to step in and remind me that EVERY time that I decide to play with glitter, to just STOP! Haha! It's SO messy, it gets everywhere, but it looks so....AWESOME! Took me two attempts to get this jolly, little guy perfect and it was completely worth it! 

I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the trim on Santa's hat then decided that the rest of his hat needed some red chunky glitter to really pack a sparkly punch! I used a TON of glue because I wanted a 3-D effect. There is a tiny dab of Crystal Effects on his eye along with glitter glue around the scalloped circle. For the first time EVER, I was patient while everything dried. Well, we actually headed out to my husband's Christmas party earlier tonight so I had no choice...I snapped these pics right before we left. I had a FABULOUS time with my favorite guy tonight, thanks, honey! :)

You really can't see it in the main photo but I stamped the snowflakes from the set in Versa-Mark and embossed them in Iridescent Ice on the snowflake patterned DSP. (It is from the Candy Cane Specialty DSP, which is sadly sold out.) I also dragged the Versa-Mark pad over the Garden Green Scalloped borders and embossed them in Iridecscent Ice embossing powder for some added shimmer and shine.

The inside continued the theme from the front. I added some "Ho, Ho, Ho" sparkly trim that I picked up on a trip to a local craft store last weekend.

I distressd the edges of the main image and the sentiment with a mix of sponged Sahara Sand and Baja Breeze classic inks. I thought it gave an aged vintage look...maybe a little? I hope you like the result! :) Please come join us this week at The Paper Players with your Christmas project! 'Tis the season to CREATE! :)

Stampin' Up! Supply List:

Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick

Ink: Basic Balck classic ink, Baja Breeze and Sahara Sand classic ink and Real Red Classic ink (sentiment)

Paper: Blusinhg Bride, Real Red, Garden Green and Whisper White card stock...and 

Accessories: Med. Oval punch, Scalloped Oval punch, Jewels, Scalloped border punch, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, paper piercer

Non SU! Accessories: circle and scalloped circle dies, glitter glue, "Ho Ho Ho" glitter sticker (inside) and some fun markers....  

Thanks for visiting! 
Enjoy your day today! :)

Simple Snowflakes

Happy Monday! The countdown to Thanksgiving is on! I'm not sure where this year went, but I'm not ready for the holidays yet. How about you? I decided to whip up some more Christmas cards today, in my quest to make sure they actually go out on time this year. (Last year, I was mailing the last of the cards out on Dec 28th...not this year, no way!) The bright and fun color combo of Real Red, Old Olive and Tempting Turquoise came from this week's challenge at The Play Date Cafe. I've decided that I really CAN love red and green on a holiday card as long as another color is thrown into the mix. ;)

I was also inspired by the challenge at Pals Paper Arts, to incorporate fabric or ribbon on a CAS (clean and simple) card:

This polka dot ribbon (sadly, retired) is one of my favorites. It's just F-U-N! I really wanted to try something a little different with the ribbon and I really like how it came out, very simple. I also used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to create some "fabric-like" texture in the background. The snowflake image is from the Patterned Pines set (ret.). 

That punched sentiment on the inside, is actually covering an "oopsie" where I originally stamped the sentiment crooked...and I mean REALLY crooked. Ugh! I was not about to redo the whole thing, so I decided to cover it up. Whew! Saved by the punches! 

If you have been following my posts on "Schnauzer-Gate 2010" (the little guy we found on our front porch on Nov. 8th), I have a small update. Unfortunately, we have still been unable to locate his owners. No one really seems to be looking for him. :( We did decide to give him a name though, because "the Schnauzer" or "Piglet", just didn't seem to be working anymore. My husband thinks he looks like a little football so, I threw out the first name of his favorite, retired Dallas Cowboys player and it just stuck. With that, may I present to you:

Emmitt Rowley von Bismark

Stampin' Up! Supply List: 

Stamps: Patterned Pines and Jolly Old Saint Nick (inside sentiment)

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive and Tempting Turquoise classic ink

Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White card stock

Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Real Red 3/4" Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon (ret), jewels, Eyelet Trim border punch, Medium Oval punch and Scalloped Oval punch

Non-SU! Accessories: square button 

Thanks for stopping by! 
Enjoy your day! :)