Curtain Call–Fa La La

Hey there!  It’s December 15th, which means two things, actually!  One… I’m crazy busy with it being only 10 days until Christmas!  Can I get an amen?  And two… it’s time for a new Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge!  So, if you find yourself with some spare time in the coming days, please join us!

Here’s my project…

And our inspiriation photo for this challenge…

And I’m running SO short on time right now, that I’ll have to come back later and post details about my project, that was made with awesomely fun products from Reverse Confetti!

Until later… thanks for stopping by!

Polar Birthday

It’s a new month, and that means we have a new hostess for the Crazy 4 Challenges team, and that’s our fearless leader, Frances Byrne!  And today Frances wants us to be inspired by the STAR… we put a star on our Christmas trees, and a star led the wiseman to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem… everywhere you look at Christmastime, you see stars.  So, using the letters S-T-A-R, incorporate them into your design! 

Now… you’ll have to forgive me but my brain is on overload this week with a lot going on at work.  So I took it pretty easy on myself and used…

S – silver
T – teal
A – apple green
R – red

And here’s my card…

 

On a piece of watercolor card stock, I used my Peerless watercolors to create a light teal wash.  After the ink dried, I spattered with more teal ink, and some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Tinsel.  I added a Sweet Tooth card stock frame over my background that was die-cut with the Pierced Rectangle STAX Die-Namics from My Favorite Things.  Then I pulled out my Birdie Brown Cool Day stamp set from MFT, and die-cut and stamped the polar bear, sign and iceberg, then colored with Copics.  I embellished with some Sparkling Clear Mix sequins, added my sentiments, and Silver Sparkle card stock strip, and called this card finished.

Be sure to stop by the C4C blog for all the challenge details today, and be inspired by the rest of the CrAzY girls…

Anja de Regt
Barbara Anders
Caz Counsell
Frances Byrne
Jessie Rone
Joanne Grzelak
Karen Aicken
Maryann Einem
Raquel Mason
Rebecca Ednie

Thanks for stopping by!

Curtain Call–Sweet

It’s time for a new Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge, and this time around we’re getting you in the holiday spirit with this cute inspiration photo…

A wonderful mug of hot chocolate, complete with a marshmallow gingerbread man!  How yummy is that?  For my card, I went with the fun Hot Cocoa Cups Die-Namics from My Favorite Things, along with the matching Hug in a Mug stamp set.  (Thanks for the loan, Kirsty!)  I die-cut the mug from Kraft card stock and embellished with a red heart, then added a nice pile of whipped cream to the top, with a dusting of cocoa powder.  I added the mug, a strip of red gingham paper from the Tiny Check Paper Pack, and a Jellybean Green card stock sentiment flag over a watercolor wash of green.  A few enamel dots completed my card.

Please be sure to stop over at the Curtain Call blog for all the challenge details, and join us!  You could be in the running to be chosen as the “Lead” and be our guest designer for the next challenge!  And be sure to visit the Crew for plenty of inspiration…

Betty Wright
Kim Singdahlsen
Leigh Penner
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mangan
Marisa Ritzen
Maureen Plut
Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Stacey Schafer
Tara Godfrey

Thanks for stopping by!

Season’s Tweetings–MarkerPOP Challenge

Hello friends!  I am happy to share with you today that I am joining the MarkerPOP team today as a Guest Designer for their newest challenge!  Challenge #109 is a color challenge, which I always love…

You can use all or just some of the colors shown to create your card for this challenge which will run until Friday, December 9th.  Be sure to stop by the MarkerPOP blog for all the details!

For my card, I used the adorable Pure Innocence Season’s Tweetings stamp set from My Favorite Things, coloring the image with Copic markers.  In the background, I added the really-fun-to-use new Birch Trees and Solid Birch Trees Die-Namics, setting the trees inside a Stitched Oval Scallop Edge Frame.  The frame and top layer of birch trees were cut from Sweet Tooth card stock, and the underlayer on the trees was cut from Gravel Gray card stock.  With a nod to the gold jingle bells and ornaments in the photo, I decided to add a little bit of shimmer to my card, as well…

Behind the trees, I sprayed a mix of Heirloom Gold and Perfect Pearls mist to make a snowy effect, and also added a strip of gold glitter card stock under my sentiment strip.

Many, many thanks to Holly and the MarkerPOP team for asking me to join them today for the challenge!  It’s an honor!  Please be sure to stop by the MarkerPOP blog for all the challenge details, and play along!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #373

Hello friends!  The weeks and the year are just flying by, and here we are on another Wednesday and it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge!  It’s our last challenge for the year, and so we’re taking it easy on everyone this week…

For today’s challenge, all you have to do is create something Christmas-y in any colors!  You can even share something you’ve already made and posted in the past month.  BUT, please be sure to check out all the details for the challenge this week on the CTD blog because there are a few modifications to the guidelines this time around.

So, I’ve been dying to show you my card for today… I actually made it way back on the first weekend in November when I was away on a stamping retreat weekend!  I was so happy with how it turned out!

I found this sketch from September on my Pinterest board as inspiration, and used the fabulous new Merry & Bright stamp set and matching Confetti Cuts die from Reverse Confetti for my card design.  The watercolor wash in the background uses Ranger Distress inks…. I think I used Pine Needles and Iced Spruce, but like I said… I made this about 6 weeks ago!  LOL  I also used the Reverse Confetti Winter Words Coordinates stamps to complete the “Joy to the World” phrase.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for all the details, and please visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration….

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Torico, December Guest Designer
Kandi Phillips, Guest Star Stamper

Have a great day!

Color Throwdown #372

It's Color Throwdown time again, and this week my BFF Barbara is our hostess with these non-traditional, but FABULOUS colors for Christmas!  I hope you'll jump on over to the CTD blog, check out the challenge, and join us!

Here's my card...

I had some fun with this cutie-patootie from the Birdie Brown Merry Christmoose stamp set from My Favorite Things, coloring the image with Copics and die-cutting with the matching Die-Namics.  The background, stamped with Kraft hybrid ink, is the BG Distressed Stripes.  I added the sentiment on a Kraft card stock flag, and added a silver flag underneath.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and please visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…. 

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Torico, December Guest Designer
Gerrina, Guest Star Stamper

Happy Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #368

Hello friends!  It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge.  This week, Lori is our hostess and with this combination of colors she picked, you can go in quite a few directions with your creation…

I chose to create a Christmas card with these colors, utilizing some fun products from Reverse Confetti…

I die-cut the word merry from pink card stock using the Winter Words Confetti Cuts, then applied some Glossy Accents for dimension and shine.  I completed the sentiment by stamping “Christmas” from the Winter Word Coordinates stamps on a strip of dark gray card stock, embossing with detail white embossing powder.  The Christmas tree was die-cut using the Branch Out Confetti Cuts.  My layout was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches #211 from last week.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration….

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Karolyn Loncon, November Guest Designer
Andrea Whisman, Guest Star Stamper

We hope you’ll join us this week for the Color Throwdown!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #365

It’s Wednesday so that must mean it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge!  Broni is our hostess today, and she’ll have you clicking your heels three times and repeating “there’s no place like home…” with this inspiration photo for our colors today…

I really, really loved working with these colors today… SO fun!  I played with some fantastic new Reverse Confetti products for my card…

Using the October Sketch for You to Try (and taking some inspiration from Amy Rohl’s fabulous card here) I created my card using the new Wreaths and Holly Confetti Cuts dies.  I cut the wreath from silver glitter card stock, then used my Copic airbrush gun to color it a shade of hot pink.  The holly leaves were cut from gray card stock, and sprayed pretty heavily with some shimmer spray, as you can see in the photo up at the top of my post.  I also used the brand new Winter Words Confetti Cuts to cut the word “joy” from hot pink card stock, and colored it with a clear Wink of Stella pen.  The holly and “joy” were layered onto a vellum Tag Me Confetti Cuts tag.  The background was stamped in a pale gray ink using the Wide Stripes background stamp from Simon Says.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Michelle Boyer, October Guest Designer
Lin, Guest Star Stamper

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #322

Hello friends!  We've got another Color Throwdown challenge for you this week, and I'M your hostess!  I hope you'll love these colors as much as I do!  Last year, just about this time, an issue of Family Fun magazine showed up in our office waiting room, and on the cover was a cute little girl wearing an apron made from this fabric.  I just LOVED the retro combination of colors, so I just knew we'd have to have it for a challenge this Christmas!

For my card, I pulled out a stamp set I bought last year from Wplus9 Design Studio, the Strictly Sentiments 3.  I bought it because of this card... just loved how that card looked.  But with my Dad's passing just before Christmas last year I just didn't get time to make many Christmas cards, and this stamp set has gone uninked... until NOW!  I just knew I had to CASE that fabulous card for today.

I stamped the largest circles in red ink, stamping off a few times with each inking.  Then used an aqua blue, pink and dark green ink for the rest of the circles with the sentiment stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  I applied strips of Scor-tape at the top and bottom of the stamped panel and applied some chunky glitter, mounted the panel to a dark teal green card stock and gave the whole thing a spritz of shimmer spray before mounting to a white card stock base.
I hope you'll join us this week!  Stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration...
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Sue Lelli, December Guest Designer
Birgit, Guest Star Stamper
Thank you for stopping by today!

Christmas Canvas

Way back in May (when the temps were a LOT warmer than they are now!) I took a wonderful trip to Florida and visited the My Favorite Things boutique in Eustis.  The MFT girls had a fabulous weekend-long retreat that I got to go to where we made some wonderful cards and other things.  One of the projects we made that weekend was our own version of this beautiful canvas designed by my BFF Barbara Anders.
Well, I’ve wanted to make another canvas similar to that for the longest time, but never seemed to get around to it.  And back in August when I visited my favorite Aunt at the new assisted living she moved to, I noticed that beside the door to her room was a little shelf where she could display pretty things, and I knew I wanted to make her something to put there.  So, I was going to do something for Fall but never got around to it.  Well, NOW my daughter is heading back to my hometown for a quick visit this weekend, so I finally got the canvas done to send with her!
Here we go…

Using the canvas that Bar so beautifully designed as a guide, I created this version using the MFT Poinsettia Die-Namics.  Behind the flowers I used the (now retired) High Tea Doily Die-Namics, along with some jute string.  The canvas was prepped with some kraft paint and gesso, and then on the canvas I randomly stamped the chicken wire from the MPD Distressed Backgrounds stamp set, and the BG Romantic Script background… both were stamped using waterproof ink.  I also applied some embossing paste using the MPD Brick Wall stencil, and stamped some of the script over that, too.  The sentiment is from the Cheerful Christmas Greetings stamp set, stamped in Jellybean Green hybrid ink.  I embellished with some flat-back pearls, and some wood veneer snowflakes that were sprayed with silver shimmer.  The poinsettias, leaves and doily were also stamped with pearl and gold shimmer sprays.

My Aunt Thead has that dreadful macular degeneration, so her eyesight isn’t the greatest, but I told my daughter to encourage her to gently run her fingers around this so she can feel all the texture.  :)
Happy Friday, everyone!  Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Color Throwdown #321

Happy Wednesday, friends!  It's time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and this week Broni is our hostess.  She's got gold, silver, dark brown and white from this beautiful photo to inspire you this week...

Combine these colors with my lack of creativity and motivation right now, and you can imagine that I was a little intimidated by these colors!  But I persevered and came up with this...

I used my new (to me!) Merry & Bright and Woodland Wreaths stamp sets and dies from Wplus9 Design Studio for my card today.  The berries on the wreath were stamped in gold, then heat embossed with gold embossing powder, as was the pinecone.  In the background, I stamped the BG Diagonal Stripes background from My Favorite Things using gold Encore ink, then I added a dark brown strip of card stock to the left side, and mounted the panel over a strip of silver glitter card stock.  A few gold and silver sequins finished off my design.  I was inspired by the current Clean & Simple Stamping sketch #314 for the layout of my card.
Please be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration...
Barbara Anders 
Broni Holcombe 
Joan Ervin 
Jodi Collins 
Lori Tecler 
Monika Davis 
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen 
Sue Lelli, December Guest Designer
Joanne James, Guest Star Stamper
Thanksabunch for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #320

Hello friends, I hope you’re still with me!  I know it’s been pretty durn quiet around here… I’m suffering from a severe lack of mojo and motivation.  You can look at my bank statement and tell that I have plenty of motivation for stamp shopping, but just no motivation for stamping.  If you have a remedy for this affliction, please share it with me!
Our Color Throwdown hostess today is my BFF Barbara Anders, and she’s got this great Christmas-inspired photo for us…

And here is my last minute, thank-God-I-found-some-motivation-and-mojo card…

Some of the shopping I’ve been doing lately paid off since I was inspired to use my new Branch Out Confetti Cuts tree from Reverse Confetti for my card!  And the Retro Sketch #142 for this week gave me plenty of inspiration, too!  And I’m so pleased that I finally remembered to try adding a “thread bundle” to one of my creations, AND pleased that it didn’t turn out half bad, either!  What IS bad though, is that I’m now OUT of silver thread!  Oh dear, MORE SHOPPING TO DO!  :)
Be sure to stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details, so you can join us this week!  And visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Petra Swart, November Guest Designer
I wish you a wonderfully happy Thanksgiving holiday (if you’re in the US!), and thank you so much for stopping by today!

Celebrating Christmas at A Day for Daisies

It's time for another new release at A Day for Daisies, and we've got some great images for you to see.  Stop over at the ADFD blog for all the details.  My card uses this sweet Christmas Ribbons reindeer, and I used the Clean & Simple sketch #269 from last week...

I apologize for this post being short and sweet, and hope you'll forgive me.  I received a call at suppertime Wednesday this past week that my Dad unexpectedly had passed away, and so my life has been turned completely upside down at this point.  But since this card was completed, I wanted to make time to share it with you.

If you're so inclined... prayers for my family would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Color Throwdown #271

Hello friends, it’s Color Throwdown time once again.  Barbara is our hostess this week, and she’s chosen a great Christmas-y color combo for us to try, although you do not have to make a Christmas card, if you don’t want to!  I decided to go with Christmas for my card, and here it is…

I used my Silhouette to cut out this poinsettia on Regal Rose cardstock, then sponged some red ink on the petal edges, and spritzed the whole thing with some heirloom gold Perfect Pearls.  I used Die-Namics dies to cut out the leaves (Royal Leaves) and the label for the sentiment (Layered Label).  The sentiment is from the My Favorite Things Clearly Sentimental about Christmas stamp set. I finished off with some embossed stripes and enamel dots.
Be sure to visit the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspriration…
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Cindy Lawrence, December Guest Designer
And speaking of Wanda Cullen… she was visiting family here in Ohio last weekend for Thanksgiving and I just had to make time to meet up with her for a big hug!  Here we are at Lehman Hardware in Kidron for a little chatting and shopping!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #270

Hello my stamping friends… it’s time again for the Color Throwdown.  Wanda is our hostess this week with this great earthy color combo.  I really liked creating with these colors… I hope you like them too and will play along with us!

For my card, I chose to use this Warm in Winter image from A Day for Daisies, along with some green polka dot paper that was a perfect match for Gumball Green.  I added a silver shimmer paper scalloped border, and a piece of kraft from a Panera coffee cup sleeve.  Some silver cord, silver sequins and sentiment tag finished up my card along with some glitter on the snow.

Be sure and stop over at the CTD blog for all the challenge details so you can play along!  And see my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Cindy Lawrence, November Guest Designer

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope your holiday is full of good food, family and lots of love!

Catered Crop Recipe Swap… and a little announcement!

Linda has a new Recipe Swap up this week over at the Catered Crop blog that I’m sure you’re going to want to check out…the Animal House Recipe Swap!  We’re going to get wild with this challenge. No, it’s not a Toga party or a food fight like the 1978 John Belushi classic. Just add wild life, pets, or any animal (dogs, cats, bears . . . ) anywhere in your creation. And party on!
So here’s my animalistic creation…

I had a few animal stamps come to mind when I learned what this challenge would be, but decided to sort through some of my less-often-used stamps to see what else I could find, and came across this Mo Manning Bunny with Gift stamp!  I think I’ve had this for 2 or 3 years, and have never inked it up, so the timing was perfect.  Now, my stamp came in rubber from Stamping Bella, but I don’t see it anymore in their store.  However, you can still get the digital version from Mo’s Digital Pencil.  I colored with Copics, added some glitter, and used Karen’s Sweet Sunday Sketch #198 for the layout.

Now… for that little announcement!  A few weeks ago I got some really happy email from none other than the Head Chef herself at Catered Crop, Linda McClain!  She was looking to fill a few slots on her team and wondered if I’d like to join?  Didn’t take me very long to answer “heck, yeah!”  And I’m thrilled to be working alongside some other fabulous designers there, too… check ‘em all out over there in my right sidebar. 
So I’m super excited to share this challenge with you today, and hope you’ll play along!  I can’t wait to see what you’re going to create!  Go unleash your inner stamping animal!  :)

Tropical Christmas

While looking through my Kitchen Sink Stamps collection this weekend, trying to decide what to create for you today, I had a little Christmas light bulb turn on above my head when I saw my Multi-Step Palm Trees and Multi-Step Christmas Lights stamp sets…

And so, I give you a tropical Christmas tree!  I stamped my palm tree 1-2-3 with Memento Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves and Olive Grove inks, then used a bright red pigment ink to stamp the light bulbs.  After the ink dried I used a clear Sakura Glaze pen to add a gloss to the lights, too.  I created a combined sentiment using Playful Christmas 2 and Never a Loss 4 Words.
Be sure to take a spin around and see what the rest of the Kitchen Sink Crew has cooked up for you today!
Maria Colosimo, owner
Lynn McAuley
Lisa Somerville
Connie McCotter
And don’t forget, the Pre-Thanksgiving Day sale is still going on until midnight Pacific time tomorrow (November 26th).  All in-stock product is 30% off!  Just enter the code THANK30TAM at checkout to get your savings!
And as always, don’t forget that anytime you shop at Kitchen Sink Stamps, you can receive 10% off your order by using the code KSS10Tammy when you checkout!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Peace

It’s Kitchen Sink Monday again (why does Monday always come around so fast?) so I’ve got a card to share with you today.  I found a couple of challenges to play along with this week, the first one being Lauren’s Inspired By challenge #96.  As soon as I saw those cone-shaped trees in the photo, I knew that Playful Christmas 1 and Playful Christmas 2 would be the perfect stamps to use.  I stamped the trees in Versamark and embossed them all with gold and silver detail embossing powder.  I added the sentiment on a vellum flag and some sequins for bling.  Then for just a little more bling, I sponged the edges of the designer papers with silver and gold Encore ink, and spritzed the whole card with Perfect Pearls mist.  The layout for my card comes from Seize the Sketch #8 for this week.
Be sure to stop by and see what the rest of the Kitchen Sink Crew has cooked up today…
Maria Colosimo, owner
Lynn McAuley
Lisa Somerville
Connie McCotter
Julie Masse (on hiatus)
And, take note… Kitchen Sink Stamps will be launching a Pre-Thanksgiving Sale which begins this coming Friday, November 22nd and runs through Tuesday, November 26th at midnight Pacific time.  The sale is for 30% all in-stock stamps!  Woohoo, what a sale!  Be sure to use the coupon code THANK30TAM at checkout to receive your 30% off savings!  And remember, shipping is free on all orders over $65 (US only).
As always, don’t forget that anytime you shop at Kitchen Sink Stamps, you can receive 10% off your order by using the code KSS10Tammy when you checkout!  (This of course doesn’t apply when there’s a better sale going on, like the Pre-Thanksgiving sale coming up!)
Thanks very much for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #267

Hey there, stamping friends!  It’s time for another Color Throwdown and this week Melody is our hostess.  She found this great Christmas snow globe photo that inspired the colors this week.  I hope you like them, and will play along!  Stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details.



Here’s my card for this week.  I decided to use Cool Caribbean cardstock, instead of turquoise but that’s okay… we always say “just use whatever you have that is most similar!”  I just HAD to pull out my new, not-yet-seen-ink Woodland Wreaths stamp set from Wplus9 Design!  Oh my word, this is such a fun and fabulous stamp set!  Just LOVED playing with it for this card!  (And you’ll see a few others turned to this stamp set for their cards this week, too… and it was totally coincidental!)

Here’s a little close-up… I blinged up the wreath with some glitter, then added an all over shimmer with some Perfect Pearls mist.



So be sure to stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and also help us welcome our AWWWW-some November/December guest designer… my Schmoopie, Cindy Lawrence!  (Any Seinfeld watchers out there?)

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Lori Tecler
Melody Rupple
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Cindy Lawrence, November/December Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and…

Playful Christmas Greetings

Did you stop by and catch this post on the Kitchen Sink Stamps blog on Thursday?  If so, you (hopefully!) took advantage of the great 31% off sale, and also saw where we’ve got two Christmas stamp sets to share with you today!

Playful Christmas is one of the first Christmas stamp sets that debuted from Kitchen Sink Stamps six years ago, and now it’s back and has a friend… Playful Christmas 2!  So I made this card to share with you today using both sets of fun Christmas trees, and some My Mind’s Eye papers.  I added a bunch of sparkle to my card with some ultrafine glitter, and a couple of hefty spritzes of Perfect Pearls mist, plus some sequins.  The inspiration for my layout came from the Cardabilities sketch #86 for this week, but I ended up straying a bit from the actual sketch.
On the inside, I added a sentiment from Playful Christmas 2 and a tree outline….

So be sure to stop over at the Kitchen Sink Stamps blog
for all the details for this release, and visit the other Crew Members to see what they cooked up today…
Maria Colosimo, owner
Lynn McAuley
Lisa Somerville
Connie McCotter
Julie Masse (on hiatus)
Remember, if you missed out on the Halloween sale, you can still ALWAYS save 10% on every order you place by entering KSS10Tammy in the coupon code at checkout!
Happy Monday, and…