My 2010 Favorites

I enjoyed posting my twelve favorite cards from 2009 so much, that I thought I'd do it again this year with my 2010 cards! So here goes, starting with January and this fun card with an image from Whipper Snapper Designs. I believe this one was for a Color Throwdown challenge.

This card that I created in February was special because it was for the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoaststampers that I got to host, and got to feature my BFF Barbara Anders! It was so much fun to surprise her with that challenge that day, and now she's a Dirty Girl! You've come a long way, baby! The stamps used on this card are from Rubbernecker.
In March I had the privilege of doing some guest design work back in the kitchen with Kitchen Sink Stamps! This beautiful lilac stamp was one I couldn't wait to get my hands on, and I enjoyed created with it tremendously!
In April I had the high honor of being asked to be a Guest Designer for Whipper Snapper Designs, and this was one of the cards I created using some of Anna Wight's new stamps. I was so tickled with how this turned out, with a Patridge Family theme!
A new company I found some great stamps from this past year was Stampavie, and I just adore this image of the little girl picking cherries. I picked up this stamp back in March when I visited my dear friend Joan Fricker in Indiana and taught some Copic classes at her store!
I also had the privilege of being in the Limelight at Flourishes back in June, and this stamp set was one I picked to use during that time. I created this card as a special order for an Etsy customer, and love how it turned out with the page from an old book.
In July I participated in a special birthday blog hop for my sweet friend LeAnne Pugliese, so I made this card for the hop and then sent it to her! (I hope I sent it to her anyway! I'm good at making cards.... bad at sending 'em!) The silhouette flowers used here are from Rubbernecker.
I can't remember that it was for anything specific back in August, but I sure did love how it turned out! The flowers here are from Impression Obsession, and the sentiment is Stampin' Up!
In September I took my Stamp of the Month program at the store in a new direction and started using stamps from Impression Obsession each month. This was one of the cards I made for that month, featured Versafine Inks and the beautiful Gary Robertson images from IO.
This Halloween card with a Stamping Bella image was for a favorite little buddy of mine at church!
In November I got my hands on the new Modern Homemaker paper pad from October Afternoon (thanks Bar!) and quickly set to work creating with it, using this sweet bear stamp from The Cat's Pajamas.
And this card, made just a few short weeks ago was my favorite for December, and my favorite for the whole year, I think! I grabbed this Echo Park paper at Monkey Business Scrapbook Lounge in Erie, PA on December 12th while I was there teaching some Copic classes, and couldn't resist pairing it up with this sweet Pure Innocence image from My Favorite Things!
Thanks for taking a sentimental journey with me back to 2010, and thanks for stopping by! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Timeless Tuesday

At my store, we always celebrate Christmas after it's over because it's so crazy-busy before, so today is the day we're having our employee Christmas luncheon. All the employees chipped in for a gift for the boss, and I made this card to put it in. I've been dying to use this Vintage Postcard stamp set (must be currently sold out, but I do have some at Toyrifix!) from Flourishes ever since it was released 2 months ago, so I finally got around to it and incorporated the Timeless Tuesday challenge for this week into it. The challenge is to use pearls on your creation, and I think I managed it well! :) This paper is from Bo Bunny, and I'm SO in love with it! I wish I hadn't discovered it just 2 weeks before Christmas! Oh well, I'll save some for next year.

The postcard image was stamped on shimmer white cardstock with Broken China distress ink, and then I embossed it with an ultra thick embossing enamel to give it an "icy" look. I sponged some Old Paper distress ink on a lot of the edges, distressed a few edges too to give the whole card a little more of a vintage look, and I dabbed my pearls with an E42 Copic marker too, just to make them a little less white.

Thanks for looking! Stay tuned later today for another post.... I had so much fun last year doing a "Favorites" post of all my favorite cards from the past year, so I thought I'd do it again this year. I hope you'll check back in!

Ooops!

With Christmas out of the way now, I'm finding more time for stamping and last night I was able to catch up with the TCP Tuesday challenge #139 at The Cat's Pajamas blog. The challenge from 2 weeks ago was a sketch challenge, so I used my favorite bunny to make this card.

This image is from the Deep Breath stamp set, and I paired it with some wintery-cool Bo Bunny papers, the Icing Cut-ups die from TCP, and some sparkly purple ribbon from i {heart} papers.

Hope you're having a great week! My day today will be spent with my husband, my daughters, and two of their friends on our annual post-Christmas trip to the mall. Hubby and I started several years ago with giving just a few small gifts on Christmas morning, and then a trip to the mall before the new year to let the girls pick out whatever they want within their "Christmas budget" and it's become the thing I most look forward to every year! I can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

Miss You a Latte - Simply Die-Namic

The Wednesday Stamp Club challenge from My Favorite Things for this past week is to showcase the Die-Namics dies in your creation. I colored this image a few weeks ago while I was in Erie and decided to get her put on a card so I could enter the challenge this week!

I used the Sketch Challenge #312 from SCS for the layout, and cut the bottom of the horizontal panel with the Jumbo Scallop die, then cut some red cardstock with the Rolled Flower Die-Namics (must be sold out at this time) to embellish the sentiment tag. The designer papers here are from the Modern Homemaker collection from October Afternoon. This ended up being pretty clean and simple, but I kinda' like it that way for a change!

Thanks for stopping by!

Feliz Navidad - TCP138

Well, I'm running a few weeks behind but that's to be expected in all the Christmas hub-bub, right? The TCP Tuesday challenge #138 from a few weeks ago was to use holiday stamps from The Cat's Pajamas to create a card. Well, I hunted and hunted for my Give a Little stamp set to use, and couldn't find it anywhere. But, in the midst of searching through those bright yellow packages of TCP stamps, I did run across my Hola Tequila stamp set, and a bright idea was born!

So, for lack of actual holiday stamps, I decided the little penguin mariachi band here could just wish you all a Merry Christmas in their own native language! Ole!' I paired this image up with that irresistible Echo Park paper that I picked up at Monkey Business a few weeks ago, and used my TCP Cut-Ups Snowflake and the Icing border die for the scallops at the bottom. The sentiment is computer generated using the Amigos font from Scrap'n Fonts.

THANK YOU for stopping by! :)

MFT Wednesday Stamp Club

I always have the best of intentions each week of playing along with the Wednesday Stamp Club challenges with My Favorite Things, but somehow the week just slips by too quickly. Well, I had some spare time last night so I thought before another Wednesday rolls around I would try to complete last week's challenge which was to create a Christmas card using a Pure Innocence stamp set. When I taught Copic classes last weekend at Monkey Business Scrapbook Lounge in Erie I picked up some of this wonderful bright "Everybody Loves Christmas" paper by Echo Park and have just been dying to use it with this cute PI "Sending You a Little Christmas" image, so I set to work last evening.

The colors in this paper are SO yummy, and I couldn't resist giving my little girl a bright pink coat to match, along with some pink leggings to keep her legs warm. I added some Flower Soft to her hat and boots, and even sprinkled some on the ground for snow. She's colored with Copic markers from i {heart} papers, and the image is cut out with the Labels 1 Nestabilities. The scalloped border at the bottom was cut with the Little Open Scallop Strip Die-Namics, and I cut a white felt snowflake out with the Let It Snowflake Die-Namics. (Looks like the Snowflakes might be sold out at MFT, but I do have them in stock at Toyrifix!) Now the really cool part of this card is that while I was still working on it, I got my weekly Wednesday Stamp Club email from MFT, and the challenge for this week is to use your Die-Namics on a card! Woohooo.... I'm already ahead of the game! :)
Here are the Copic colors I used.

Thanks for stopping by! Merry, merry CHRISTmas if I don't get a chance to say it again before Saturday!

Peppermint Popcorn Tins

I wanted to get the employees at the store something for Christmas, and to let them know how much I appreciate them, but needed to do it for very little expense. My solution came in these simple plastic "tins" from Wal-Mart, some candy canes, a few chocolates and a hand-stamped tag tied up with ribbon on top. And inside.... the most delicious, Christmas candy treat I've ever made! Peppermint Popcorn! Oh my stars, I discovered this recipe last night on the Tasty Kitchen website, and I know that I will never make any other Christmas treat ever again! I'm a peppermint freak anyway, so this is definitely right up my alley! I quickly made up several batches of the popcorn, stamped these tags and made up nine gifts to take to work!

The Christmas tree comes from the Snowflakes and Stardust stamp set from Rubbernecker, and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

Just wanted to share in case you need some last minute ideas!

Happy stamping, and if I don't get back here again before the weekend I wish you all a very Merry CHRISTmas!!!

Be Merry!

Hello friends! Just another quick blog post to share a Christmas card I made last night using the Candy Cane Kisses ala' modes stamp set from My Favorite Things. I actually colored this image last weekend while at the hotel in Erie, PA with my hubby and Kelsey the night before I taught some Copic classes, and finally got some time to make a card. I used the Sketch Challenge #311 from Splitcoaststampers for the layout, and some Jovial collection papers from Basic Grey.

Short and sweet.... it's past my bedtime! Have a wonderful weekend!

Chocolate Box Tag

My daughter Kelsey ended up with a new bus driver for this school year, and the year initially started out kinda' rocky but was quickly smoothed out and Kelsey has come to like this bus driver very much. I always have a huge spot in my heart for the adults in our community who drive the school buses... I admire the love they have for the kids, (despite a lot of crap-ola that they put up with from some of them!), the incredible amount of patience they possess, and I can't help but choke up when I think of the awesome responsibility they take on to get our kids safely to school and back everyday. So I had to make sure Kelsey had a nice little Christmas gift to hand to Shannon tomorrow morning when she gets on the bus.

I bought this simple red candy box, and some assorted chocolates to go inside and then took a shipping tag and spruced it up to make the box special. The tree stamps I used here are from the Snowflakes and Stardust stamp set from Rubbernecker. I stamped the swirly tree directly on the tag with Versamark ink, then embossed it with white embossing powder, and I stamped the swirly stars with Versamark and embossed it with silver embossing powder. Then I sponged Ranger Distress inks in Forest Moss, Fired Brick and Old Paper around the tag to create this effect. I chewed up the edges a little with my distress tool, and sponged on more Old Paper, stamped the Cover-a-Card Music background stamp over everything, then spritzed with Perfect Pearls for sparkle! The Peace on Earth sentiment is also from Impression Obsession and is cut out with my Sentiment Flag die from Lil' Inker Designs. Some old SU! Old Olive ribbon, a red button, and some Divine Twine complete the project and this is ready for Kelsey to carry to the bus stop in the morning!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look! Happy Friday!

Copic Classes!

Craziness in my life this past week prevented me from getting a card done for today's Crazy Challenge (hmmm... irony?) but check out the sketch challenge for this week at the C4C blog and play along if you have time!

One reason I've been busy is that I was getting ready to teach some Copic classes! I am headed to Erie, Pennsylvania later today with my hubby and Kelsey (Kaylie has to stay home because of work) and tomorrow I'm teaching three Copic classes at Monkey Business Scrapbook Lounge! If you're one of the many registered for the classes, I will look forward to meeting you tomorrow! :) These are the cards we'll be making in the process of learning about how fabulous Copic markers are!

If you're so inclined, prayers for a safe trip home on Sunday night would be greatly appreciated as Old Man Winter has come early to our neck of the woods and is unleashing another furious blast of snow and cold on us tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by, and for your prayers!

What's Cooking?

Flourishes has had another awesome new release of stamp sets! I received my order of the Mix-n-Mugs stamp set yesterday at Toyrifix just in time for the new release and couldn't resist inking it up last night! I combined the images with this "Circa" paper from Cosmo Cricket, and couldn't resist using some twill ribbon printed with cooking utensils from Creative Impressions. I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch challenge #103 again from this past week, as it's a fabulous layout!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

Color Throwdown #122

Well, here we are at the last Color Throwdown for 2010! Hard to believe that the end of another year has arrived and Christmas will be here before we know it. Today's Throwdown is being hosted by Laura, and she chose these colors that will be perfect if you have some last-minute Christmas cards to finish!

The image I used today is a Puddle Jumpers digital stamp by Lori Boyd. As soon as I saw this in her store, I had to snatch it up! The layout was inspired by Mercy's Tuesday Sketch challenge #103, however I didn't follow it exactly because of the size of my image. The "Rejoice" sentiment on the tag is computer-generated.
Here are the Copic colors I used...

Check out the fabulous inspiration from my Throwdown sisters, and then stop by the Throwdown blog to link your own creation!

Happy stamping, and thank you for visiting me today!

CrAzY for a Sketch - C4C66

Hello my friends, and happy Saturday! I have to work today.... it might end up being a reeeaaallllyyy long day, but I got to go shopping last night and have some pretty new things to wear so I'm hoping it makes the day more bearable! LOL But if you're lucky enough to be at home today and aren't too busy with preparations for Christmas, maybe you'd like to play along with the Crazies and this super sketch challenge we have for you this week! I really enjoyed working with this sketch, and I hope you'll like it, too!

I decided to pull some paper from several different October Afternoon collections, including the pretty flowered paper at the bottom from the Seaside collection. I stamped my main image panel with some pretty silhouette flowers from Impression Obsession, and used a sentiment from the Thanks a Bunch stamp set from My Favorite Things.

Stop over at the Crazy 4 Challenges blog for all the details, and to link up your own creation using this sketch. And if you stop at the blogs of my Crazy Sisters, you'll be over-the-top inspired, I just know it!

Angela Wood

Barbara Anders

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Jessie Rone

Joanne Grzelak

Lynda Benden

Maria Bell

Silke Kittman

Vicki Garrett

Happy weekend, happy stamping, and THANK YOU for stopping by!

Just Chillin'

Oh my word, I just love this new bunny featured in recent stamp sets from The Cat's Pajamas! His big giant ears are just too cute! This is from the Just Chillin' stamp set, and I just knew he'd go perfectly with the color combo for this week's TCP Tuesday challenge, so I got him inky last night to make this card!

I found designer papers in a 6x6 pad of Christmas Carnival paper that I picked up last year from KaiserCraft that I thought worked pretty well, and paired it with a piece of lavender shimmer cardstock from Bazzill, and a little bit of a darker purple for contrast. The big snowflake is a new die from TCP, and I cut it out with a heavy white cardstock, then spritzed it with some Perfect Pearls to make it shimmery. There's more shimmer in the glitter on the snowflakes in the image, and I couldn't resist finishing off the bunny's coat hood and cuffs with some Polar White Flower Soft. Some Divine Twine in my button, and the sentiment cut out with Laura's Sentiment Flag die finishes off my card.

Because I seem to be getting asked more and more often about colors I've used on an image, I'm going to try again to provide pictures of the markers for reference with each post! Hope this helps! (Michelle, I haven't forgotten about the kitty colors you need!)
Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by! TGIF!!!

My Favorite Things December Blog Hop and Shop

Hey there, MFT Fans! Welcome to my stop on the Blog Hop for all the new releases! Hopefully you came here from the blog of myBFF Barbara Anders, and if not I highly recommend you go back to Kim's blog to start at the beginning! You won't want to miss all the final fabulous cards and projects from the Design Team and the Temp Team members, and you certainly don't want to miss your chance at winning! Be sure to leave a comment on each blog as you hop along! One lucky winner will be chosen at random to win a $15 gift voucher to shop in the MFT store! The winner will be chosen on Friday and will be posted in the MFT Forum.

For my project tonight, I'm using the Clearly Sentimental about Love stamp set again, and the Hearts a'Plenty Die-Namics that you've seen me using a lot these last few days. When I first got the die, my wheels started turning because one thing I have always loved about Christmas is making ornaments and my favorite kind to make are from felt with blanket stitching around the edges. Over the years I have made mittens, Santa faces, angels and other things with that great country/primitive look of the felt and blanket stitching. So I started thinking about what I could do with these heart shapes from the die. And then I was looking over the sentiments in the Clearly Sentimental about Love set and it struck me that a lot of them reminded me of the sayings you find in fortune cookies (only these are a LOT better than some I've seen!) So my wheels kept turnin' and eventually I came up with this idea for a Love Tree! You can pick a heart from the tree, and get a yummy piece of chocolate with your "fortune" instead of a dry ol' cookie!

Now I'm really doubting that these branches will survive around my house until Valentine's Day, but the little hearts with their "fortune" sentiments certainly will and my plan is to set this up at work for our employees and for some of my favorite customers! Each little heart holds a Hershey's nugget, and each one has a different sentiment from the stamp set hanging off the string. You could easily fit a Hershey's Kiss in these too, and even the Hershey's Miniatures would work well too (and as Valentine's Day approaches you'll be able to find them in appropriate colors, too!)
I know it looks like a lot of work but honestly they came together rather quickly! I cut out all the hearts using the largest heart from the Hearts a'Plenty Die-Namics, then did all the blanket stitching while I sat with my hubby and watched the Browns clobber the Panthers this past Sunday! And I was able to quickly stitch on all the buttons while my daughter was at the dentist the next day. There are 16 altogether and the time I spent cutting out the hearts and doing all the stitching was probably no more than 3 hours.
Many more ideas came to me with something like this, too. How CUTE would this be on display at a baby shower with blue and pink hearts all over it, and tags stamped with the Clearly Sentimental about Babies stamp set? Or set it up at school during Teacher Appreciation Week with tags stamped from the Clearly Sentiment about Teaching set? Or set it up at church for Mother's Day with Clearly Sentimental about Mothers on the tags? The possibilities are endless, especially if Kim keeps coming up with more awesome dies and stamp sets! (hint, hint.... we need an apple die, Kim!)

So I hope you've enjoyed my stop here on the hop! Stay on track by heading over now to Megan Lock's blog and see what fabulous-ness she has in store for you!

Many, many, many thanks to Kim for inviting me to be a part of the Temp Team this month and thanks to Jody Morrow for all the hard work she puts in keeping everything incredibly organized! I had a blast!!!