Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Squeeze-A-Palooza #3

I made this card for the current challenge at Fresh Squeezed Stamps. I used a stamp set called The Sweet Life. The challenge is based their inspiration photos. I took inspiration for all the white in the photos so I left a lot of white space and there were bird houses and birds so I wanted to use the cute bird. I colored the images with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol.  Thanks for stopping by!


Materials
1. Card stock - Select White - Paptertrey Ink
2. Stamps - The Sweet Life - Fresh Squeezed Stamps
3. Ink - Tuxedo Black - Memento, Sepia Brown - Ranger Archival
4. Pencils - Prismacolor Pencils

Avery Elle Challenge

I just got in my first stamps from a new company called Avery Elle. I decided to enter their first challenge on their blog. The challenge is to make a project that sums up your personal paper crafting style. I used a stamp set called Fanfare because I really love the graphic nature of the stamps. I also used a purple and aqua/green color scheme because it's one of my favorite color combos. When asked to describe my style I usually say it's colorful and relatively CAS. I think this card sums that up. I'm rarely subtle with color and sometimes I'm just over the line of CAS. Thanks for stopping by and go check out Avery Elle if they're a new brand to you. I think you'll love their stamps. 


Materials
1. Cardstock - Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Plum Pudding - Papertrey, Ink.
2. Ink - Hawaiian Shores, Plum Pudding - Papertrey, Ink.
3. Stamps - Fanfare - Avery Elle
4. Punch - Circle - Stampin' Up

Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge

Today I've made a card for the December Papertrey, Ink Blog Hop Challenge. It's the first time I have participated in this event. The Challenge this month is White & White. This is the inspiration photo they provided that feature all white items.


Here's my card. I used the new Man & Wife dies from PTI and Nestabilities dies. I covered some areas in Martha Stewart Dove Glitter and the bouquet is covered in Purple Glitter. I'm not good glueing paper on glitter so I just attached the Nestabilities panels together with the tiny attacher. I made sure the staples were behind her dress. I couldn't figure out what to do with a sentiment so I left it off.  The white paper is from PTI. Thanks for stopping by!!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Blueprints etc...

Happy Christmas Eve!! It's one of my favorite days of the year. I hope that you and your families have very Happy Holidays. I'm looking forward to spending tonight with my friends and their 3 year old son Reece, if you've been following me a while, you've seen him before. He's my "adopted" child and my parent's "adopted" grandson. We have so many presents under the tree for  him it will probably take him an hour to open all of them. I love being with kids at Christmas and it's the first year he really gets what's  going on so it should be really fun.

Reece with my mom & Dusty helping me unpack my Santa collection
My brother is not coming home because he came last week for my uncle's funeral. It was a sad occasion, but on a positive note, I got to see most of my mother's family who I would not normally have seen and I was able to share my homemade cookies and bread with them. My dad's family got together a few weeks ago so I've seen most of my family this month.

While I'm writing all these personal things, I wanted to post some pictures of me with my best friend Liliana in NYC last month. We took a long girls weekend for my birthday to NYC. Besides, a very scary landing in a blizzard - we were the last plane they allowed to land at LaGuardia that night, we had a great time. We visited with several friends from college and I got to meet my good blog friend and fellow PDC designer Rachel Kleinman. She took a train from Connecticut and met us there one day. We had a fun adventure to Mood, the fabric store where the Project Runway designers shop. We are both huge Project Runway fans and frequently Tweet about it!!

Liliana & me

Liliana with our friend Kip from NYC

Me with my friend Ron from NJ

Rachel & me
Finally, I just got these Christmas Blueprint stamps by Tim Holtz a few days ago. Not in time for cards for this year, but I wanted to try them out. So I just stamped them on Kraft paper and colored them with Distress Markers and added some Stickles. I really love these images - especially the snowman. And now I'm 4 ahead for next year. Yay!

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!



12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop - Day 11


WELCOME TO THE DECEMBER “12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS” BLOG HOP – DAY 11

Today I'm the hostess for the Sean & Regina 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop. I made a quick and easy card today. Something you could make quickly with some paper scraps. I just used two pieces of scrap paper from the same set. I used a Gina K. stamp from the All Occasion tags stamp set. The great thing about this set is it coordinates with the Spellbinders Grommet tags die set. 

I die cut the label with the matching Grommet tag. I stamped the tag and sentiment in matching red ink and I tied the tag onto the card with a sheer ribbon that was in my stash and added some little green brads. Thanks for stopping by and  be sure to visit the other participants in the blog hop. All directions are listed below. One lucky winner will win a Gina K. Designs prize package. Happy Holidays!




Hi everyone!  Happy Holidays from everyone at the Blog Hop for Sean & Regina!  Thank you for playing along in our December blog hop!  The Blog Hop with Sean & Regina features Gina K. Designs stamps only for our monthly blog hops!

This month, we are featuring the “12 Days of Christmas”.  Each blog hop designer will be hosting a day from December 13 – December 24 that will feature Christmas/Holiday cards from a Gina K. Designs stamp set.  A list of blog hop designers are listed in this post with the day they will be hosting.  You are invited to take part in each of the twelve days. Subscribe and comment on the hop designer’s blog hop for the day and at the end, the person who has completed the entire twelve days will win a wonderful GINA K. DESIGNS PRIZE PACK! 

  


OUR BLOG HOP PRIZE!


A Gina K. Designs Prize Pack including:

  • Gina K. Designs stamp set
  • Gina K. Designs Pure Luxury card stock
  • Gina K. Designs pattern paper
  • Brads
  • Ribbon
  • Embellishments

LET'S GET HOPPING.....


Now it is your turn to blog hop with all of our friends!   


The rules are simple:

  1. Visit each participating blog on the list below from December 13 – December 24. 
  2. Leave a comment for the blog host designer.
  3. Become a follower of each participating blog.

If you follow rules 1 – 3, you will be eligible to win the grand prize of a Gina K. Designs Prize Pack.


At the end of the hop, a random winner will be chosen for the Blog Hop Grand Prize using comments and followers from each blog. We will be posting the winner a day or so after the holidays!   

The blog hop designer this month and the designated date they are hosting are as follows:


Regina Hardy
http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com

Nancy Leppek
http://www.cherisheachpreciousday.blogspot.com

Cheryl Wright
http://ideasforcardmaking.net

Lori McAgree

Penny O'Dell

Suzanne Dean

Kay Simmons

Donna Bowman

Sean Fetterman

Please leave a comment for the blog hop design and sign up/follow each hop designer to be eligible to win the Gina K. Designs Prize Pack! 


Thank you for visiting my blog!
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

CAS Christmas Tags

I got my first order of stamps from The Alley Way Stamps yesterday and I decided to enter into their current challenge - Be Inspired #18. I used a stamp set called No Peeking to make this set of CAS gift tags. The tag is a Stampin' Up die and the ribbon is also from Stampin' Up. I stamped the images and did a little masking on some using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. Then I colored them in with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol to get more vibrant colors. I was mainly inspired by the reds and greens in the photo. Thanks for taking a look and Happy Holidays!

Inspiration Photo:

My tags: 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Dear Santa...

Dyan Reaveley posted a challenge on her Facebook Art Journal page last week and I finally had time to make my page today. The rules are you had to use the snowflake stencil, the spray in color London Blue and the Beard stamp. Luckily I had all those items.

For the background I sprayed London Blue in the Middle, Turquoise around the blue and then Purple on the edges. When it was wet I sprayed water over the snowflake stencil. When it dried I put the stencil back down and spray Mr. Hueys white on the stencil. For the images I colored them with Prismacolor markers and blended with Gamsol. The star I cut out of another background page that didn't work out. Thanks for stopping by!


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Happy Holidays

I made this card for the current CAS-ual Fridays Challenge and the current Craft Dash Challenge. I made this card 7 minutes and 45 seconds. I used a Little Yellow Bicycle corrugated shapes ornament and a LYB sticker sentiment. The twine is Christmas Twine from Doodlebug Designs. Thanks for stopping by!


Here's my card.


The Play Date Cafe #162


Welcome to another color challenge at The Play Date Cafe. It's our last one of the year and it's a 2 week challenge so you will have plenty of time to play! The colors this week are Gold, Teal, Mint Green and Lavender. I hope you will be able to join us. These colors are beautiful and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Our sponsor this week is Jenni Bowlin who graciously provided the design team with stamps. I used the wheat flower stamp. I stamped using Stampin' Up Island Indigo ink on American Crafts mint green paper. I matted the stamped image with Island Indigo and used Wisteria Wonder for the card base. The letters are Jenni Bowlin Alterable Alphas - Graph. I covered each letter with Perfect Pearl medium and then covered them with Perfect Pearls in Perfect Gold. The gold rhinestones are from Queen and Co. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing your creations!!

Be sure to go to The Play Date Cafe blog to check out the prize offered by our sponsor Jenni Bowlin. And don't forget to check out the Jenni Bowlin online store where you can see all their awesome cardmaking and scrapbook supplies!


Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Play Date Cafe 161




Welcome to our new color challenge at The Play Date Cafe. This week we have some fun, funky and festive colors - Evergreen, Gum Drop and Candy Cane Red. I just love these colors and I decided to make a funky and bright card this week. My colors aren't spot on, but I can say I was definitely inspired by this awesome color story.

I die cut the tree from grunge paper and colored it with a new Tim Holtz Distress stain - Pickled Raspberry. Then I added various red brads for ornaments. There is more contrast between the pink and red in person. The papers are Snow Day from Crate Paper and the sentiment is a SRM Sticker. I had those bright red snowflakes in my stash.

I'm also entering this card into the Cupcake Craft Challenge. Their theme this week is Merry Christmas so this fits the bill. 


Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp. They will be offering a gift certificate to our lucky winner. Be sure to go check out there large inventory crafty goodness.



Simon Says Stamp

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 12 & Blog Candy

Welcome to Day 12 of the 12 Days of Holiday Projects. I can't believe it's our last day. I have had so much fun sharing my holiday projects and getting inspiration from all the other girls amazing projects. Thanks to everyone who has been stopping by our blogs and commenting, we really appreciate it. You can still find our projects after today on our new 12 Days of Holiday Projects Pinterest Board. 
It's a very inspiring board and I hope you will check it out. http://pinterest.com/corgidusty/12-days-of-holiday-projects-2012/


For my Day 12 Project I'm sharing a large Tim Holtz Christmas Configurations box that I decorated. I used Tim Holtz seasonal papers, seasonal tissue tape, and various charms and embellishments. I love to make these and I've never made a big on like this before. I've been gathering items over the past year so I can make several of these. I put the paper on them in June and didn't finish this one until last night. I think these make great gifts because they are truly made from the heart and they are very pretty. I've taken pictures at several angles so you can see the details better. 


Thanks so much for supporting us with the 12 Day of Holiday Projects and I hope you will stop back by my blog and stay in touch. If you have time, please stop by the other ladies blogs. I know they will all be sharing amazing Day 12 projects with you. Scroll down to see this month's blog candy.











Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can make it to the blogs of the other ladies to see the awesome holiday projects they are sharing with you today.



January 1 Blog Candy

Here's my monthly blog candy post. I've got lots of goodies this month. To be entered to win you just need to be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post. That's it - easy peasy. Leave your comment before midnight EST December 31. I'll do my best to post the winner on January 1 or shortly thereafter. Good luck!


What's in the candy?
1. Two Stampin' Up Clear Stamp Sets - Button Buddies & Happy Greetings
2. One Stampin' Up wood mount set - Circle Circus
3. Several Calendar Stickers
4. Gina K. Stamp Set - Clear - Take Note
5. Douglas Cuddle Toy - Mr. Tibbits the Pug

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 11


We now have a Pinterest page featuring the projects of many of the designers participating in the 12 Days of Holiday Projects. It's a very inspiring board and I hope you will check it out. http://pinterest.com/corgidusty/12-days-of-holiday-projects-2012/



Welcome to Day 11 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects Blog Event. Several crafty blog friends and I decided to post one holiday project a day for 12 days - just for fun. We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own holiday craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at the other blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. If we inspire you to make, something please let us know - we would love to see. Happy Holiday Crafting!!

For my Day 11 Project I'm sharing some more ornaments I made with my favorite large Sizzix ornament die. When I got my second order of Claudine Hellmuth acrylic paints, I LOVED the teal color and I was inspired to make these teal ornaments with some Tim Holtz retro dies. These are definitely non-traditional ornaments in color and subject matter, but I really like them and think they would look great on a tree. 


To make them, I die cut the ornaments from Tim Holtz Grunge Board and painted the ball Teal and I painted the hanger with Tim Holtz Brushed Pewter Crackle Paint. When it dried I went over the ornament with Black Soot distress ink (see www.timholtz.com) and sprayed it with Perfect Pearls Mist. Then I die cut the shapes and painted them with black acrylic paint and Brushed Pewter crackle paint for the accents. The fabric hanger is Tim Holtz trim that I died with Brushed Pewter Distress Stain. I glued them on with Glossy Accents. They were really fun to make!  I can't believe we only have 1 day left. I have a big project to show you tomorrow. I hope you can stop by to see my Day 12 project. 



Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can make it to the blogs of the other ladies to see the awesome holiday projects they are sharing with you today.

Monday, December 10, 2012

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 10

We now have a Pinterest page featuring the projects of many of the designers participating in the 12 Days of Holiday Projects. It's a very inspiring board and I hope you will check it out. http://pinterest.com/corgidusty/12-days-of-holiday-projects-2012/



Welcome to Day 10 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects Blog Event. Several crafty blog friends and I decided to post one holiday project a day for 12 days - just for fun. We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own holiday craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at the other blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. If we inspire you to make, something please let us know - we would love to see. Happy Holiday Crafting!!

For my Day 10 Project I'm sharing a set of little white pails that I decorate with holiday dies. I order these little pails from Oriental Trading Company. Since they're white, you can use them for many different occasions. To make these I die cut these holiday shapes on Tim Holtz Grunge Paper and colored them with Tim Holtz Distress Stains. I painted the top of the ornament with Brushed Pewter Crackle Paint and added some bling to the tree and the ornament. For the holly berry, I covered the berry with Glossy Accents to make it shiny. These pails are perfect for little gifts, candy, food, etc... You could add ribbon and tissue paper to make a beautiful gift. To be honest I wanted to put some tissue paper in them, but I've wrapped so many presents in the last few days I'm out. I only had some pink and orange and I did think those colors would go with my holiday theme!! I can't believe we only have 2 days left. I hope you can stop by tomorrow to see my Day 11 project.
 




Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can make it to the blogs of the other ladies to see the awesome holiday projects they are sharing with you today.


Sunday, December 9, 2012

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 9





Welcome to Day 9 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects Blog Event. Several crafty blog friends and I decided to post one holiday project a day for 12 days - just for fun.  The projects will be anything crafty like cards, ornaments, wreaths, advent calendars, etc… We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own holiday craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at the other blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. If we inspire you to make, something please let us know - we would love to see. Happy Holiday Crafting!!

For my Day 9 Project I'm sharing a Christmas art journal page. I made the background with Dylusion pink & red ink sprays. I cut the trees and stars using Dylusions stencils on tags and backgrounds that I had in my stash ready to use. I also used Dylusions stamps for the border, reindeer, ornaments and sentiment. I colored the stamped images with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. I added Distress Stickles in Scattered Straw to the stars on the trees and a rhinestone to the reindeer's hat. I also used an American Crafts white gel pen on the border berries. I haven't worked in my journal in ages and this page took a really long time to make, but I had a great time creating it. I hope you can stop by tomorrow to see my Day 10 project. 





Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can make it to the blogs of the other ladies to see the awesome holiday projects they are sharing with you today.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 8




Welcome to Day 8 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects Blog Event. Several crafty blog friends and I decided to post one holiday project a day for 12 days - just for fun.  The projects will be anything crafty like cards, ornaments, wreaths, advent calendars, etc… We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own holiday craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at the other blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. If we inspire you to make, something please let us know - we would love to see. Happy Holiday Crafting!!

For my Day 8 Project I'm sharing a snowflake wreath I made. I order several different sizes and styles of wooden snowflakes from Internet craft stores (I've had them a while and don't remember where I got them from!!). I got a flat wooden circle frame from Michaels and painted it white and I hot glued the snowflakes on the frame. Each snowflake is three layers - a large colored one, a medium one that is white and a small one that is the same color as the larger one. I covered all of them in Martha Stewart Glitter Glue and then dipped them in Martha Stewart fine glitter using cool winter colors - white, purples, blues, & silver. I love the shiny look of the fine glitter and I really love these colors. It's hanging on my craft room door. I keep thinking I should add a bow, but I don't want to cover any of the shiny snowflakes!! Thanks for stopping by and hope you will come back tomorrow to check out my Day 9 project.


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can make it to the blogs of the other ladies to see the awesome holiday projects they are sharing with you today.


Friday, December 7, 2012

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 7




Welcome to Day 7 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects Blog Event. Several crafty blog friends decided to post one holiday project a day for 12 days - just for fun.  The projects will be anything crafty like cards, ornaments, wreaths, advent calendars, etc… We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own holiday craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at the other blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. If we inspire you to make, something please let us know - we would love to see. Happy Holiday Crafting!!

For my Day 7 project I'm sharing a card that I'm entering into the one of my favorite challenges - Cupcake Craft Challenges. The theme for this week is It'll be White on the Night - they want white with white and a little more white. It took a while to get this snowman interesting (not sure how much you can tell in the photo), he has many layers of Tim Holtz crackle paint, Perfect Pearls Mist and Martha Stewart Glitter. I die cut the hills on white glitter paper. The buttons, embossing folder and tinsel trim are from Stampin' Up. The hill dies are PTI. The snowman die and trim are Tim Holtz. The buttons are from Michaels and the rick rack is from my local fabric store. This card has a lot elements which is a little beyond my normal comfort zone - but I like how it turned out. Thanks for taking a look and I hope you stop back tomorrow for my Day 8 project.



Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you will be able to visit the other girls on the list below and check out their fun holiday projects!!   

Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Play Date Cafe #160 & 12 Days of Holiday Projects Day 6


Welcome to The Play Date Cafe Challenge! This week our colors Mountain Top, Ice Blue and Snowflake. Perfect for you wintery cards. I used the mitten die and sweater background stamp from Papertrey Ink for my card to keep my card "wintery". The sentiment, snowflake, and twine are also from PTI. The snowflake die is from Stampin' Up and the small tag is a Tim Holtz die. The ink on the mitten is Baha Breeze from Stampin' Up and the ink on the tag is Cornflower Blue from Color Box. The buttons and light blue card stock are Baha Breeze from Stampin' Up. The cream paper and dark blue are from my Studio Calico kit club papers. I just love the graphic nature of this mitten and I really love using the sweater pattern stamp on it. 

I hope you will join us this week. I can't wait to see what you create!!

Since this card is very Winter Holiday - it is my Holiday Project for Day 6 of the 12 Days of Holiday Projects blog event I'm participating in with my other crafty friends. I have links to their blogs below. If you would like to see some amazingly creative holiday projects, please stop by their blogs. 


Our sponsor this week is Scrapbook Pal. They have fast shipping. They have same day shipping on orders placed by 2:30 pm MT Monday – Friday and FREE shipping on orders $25 and over in the Continental United States 

                                                                                                  Cricut Cartridges



This is also my projects for Day 6 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects. I hope you can visit the other ladies participating in the "12 Days" for more holiday inspiration.