Storage Solution

While using my Primsacolor pencils on a card yesterday I was wishing I had a better way to store them instead of in the large bulky tin they came in. I wanted to be able to store them by color family in something that didn't take up too much space. That's when it hit me. . . the project called for a beer. 6 beers in fact. Or at least their container.



I covered a Leinies box to store my pencils. I think it will work very nicely and the price was right.











I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

Tacky Tape First

I finally broke down and bought some tacky tape to use with the micro beads that I've had forever. I bought several containers of beads thinking I would make shaker cards but that didn't happen so it was time to buy some tacky tape and try using the beads another way.

The sketch for this card is from Mary Jo Albright's blog Beauty Lies Within. I started with a SU buckaroo blue base and layered that with My Mind's Eye Mademoiselle paper. The blue band is the reverse side of the striped paper. Then I stamped the inkadinkado bird stamp with chestnut roan colorbox chalk ink on SU very vanilla cardstock. I sponged the edges with timber brown stazon and layered it onto another piece of very vanilla. The next layer is buckaroo blue, then a thin mat of close to cocoa and finished with orchid opulence. For the finishing touches I added two strips of tacky tape and micro beads then two primas with a Making Memories Boho Chic Olivia brad as the flower center. The card measures 5x5. I really like how simple it is to use micro beads with the tacky tape and recommend trying it if you haven't already. Thanks for stopping!

Jitterbug Valentines

I'm still playing with my inkadinkado valentine stamps. For this card I started by stamping the hearts in warm red colorbox chalk ink on SU very vanilla and then cutting them out. Then I stamped the message from hero arts in chestnut roan colorbox chalk ink also on SU very vanilla and matted it with a layer of chocolate from Paper Source. I attached the hearts with pop dots and added some dew drops to the corner. The bottom panel is Cosmo Cricket Jitterbug - Tall Sally paper also matted with chocolate from Paper Source. I tied a ribbon from May Arts around the lower panel. The base of the card is strawberry from Paper Source.

During my recent trip to Minneapolis I was able to stop at Paper Source. They have a wonderful line of flat cards, folded cards, shape cards, cardstock and envelopes in some fabulous colors.

Valentines Delight

Here is another valentines card made with my new inkadinkado stamps. The card base is Stampin Up very vanilla and the patterned paper is Just Perfect from the Tres Jolie Ooh La La line from My Minds Eye. I ran the solid side of the designer paper through my cuttlebug using the textile embossing folder and then lightly sanded it. To attach it to the card I sewed it on. The hearts are stamped on very vanilla with SU regal rose ink. I added the Delight rub-on from K&Co to the bottom corner but it doesn't show up very well. I thought about putting a ribbon over it to cover it up but decided to add the ribbon to the top instead. The ribbon is from May Arts.


My daughter and I took a shopping trip to Minneapolis yesterday to shop for clothes for her and to stop at some stamp stores for me. We had a great time except for the driving - it decided to snow for the entire 160 miles to the Twin Cities and then it started snowing again about half way home. During the drive home we passed several vehicles off the road including a semi-truck so we took our time and made it home safely. Now I'm hoping to spend the day in my craft room with my new stuff.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. And as always, thank you for stopping.

New Inkadinkado

While in a little town about 30 miles from home yesterday I found the new Inkadinakdo valentine line of stamps in a small scrapbooking store. I had to bring these three little cuties home with me.

The card base is Stampin Up's sahara sand and the designer papers are from the BasicGrey Blush line of papers. The birds are stamped on SU very vanilla using timber brown stazon. The edges of the bird panel are sponged with SU basic brown. I punched a scalloped square with my Marvy punch and cut off the corner to make the photo corners. The ribbon is from May Arts and the Happy Anniversary is from Studio G. Thanks for stopping.

Birthday Anyone?

Instead of making more Christmas cards I decided to pull out some of my new Inque Boutique stamps and make a birthday card. I started with a base of Stampin Up cool caribbean cardstock and stamped the dotted circle stamp randomly using SU cool caribbean ink. The designer papers are all scraps of BasicGrey Blush papers. The cupcake image is stamped in cranberry crisp ink from SU on a Making Memories pink cardstock. I sponged all of the edges of the cupcake panel with cranberry crisp ink. For the journal lines under the sentiment I used cranberry crisp ink that I stamped off once. Another Yummy Birthday is also stamped in the same ink. The only embellishment is a small pewter brad. The card measures 5x5.

Gift Set for a Friend

I'm having lunch with a friend today and realized this morning that I never finished her gift. I had made up a tin of nuggets a few weeks back but I never made anything to go with it so I needed to come up with something quick. As for the tin, I ordered the tin from Papertrey Ink and the stamps I used on the labels of the chocolates are from Clear Dollar Stamps. I stamped the labels using chalk inks and then wrapped them around Hershey nuggets. I wrapped a 1 1/2 inch wide strip of Stampin Up's Certainly Celery Designer Paper around the tin and tied some ribbon I found at WalMart over the strip. For the tag, I stamped the holiday wishes stamp from the Faux Ribbon set by Papertrey Ink on white and punched it out with the small oval punch from Stampin Up and added a layer of the designer paper punched out with the large oval punch also from Stampin Up. The tag was attached with silver cord.

Now what to make to finish the gift. . . How about a magnetic post it note holder. I pulled out more of the SU Certainly Celery Designer paper and covered a square coaster, glued a post it note pad on the center, punched two holes in the top with my cropodile, added some matching ribbon and glued a magnet on the back. Now we're making progress. . . Then I saw on my shelf some of the $1 packs of mini cards I had purchased from Michael's and decided an assortment of mini cards (3x3) would be quick to put together to finish the gift set. I cut 6 pieces of 3x6 white cardstock, then scored and folded them to make my card bases. Then I cut 6 pieces (2 7/8 squares) of the designer paper and attached them to the cards. Next I pulled out my SU Little Hellos set and stamped an assortment of the images using Palette Noir hybrid ink and watercolored the images using my SU Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an aqua brush. I punched out the images with a Marvy scalloped square punch and adhered them to the cards. Whew, gift complete. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I hope she likes it.

Should be mailing cards

I know . . . I should be addressing my cards and getting them in the mail instead of making more! I figure this way people won't get my cards until after the holidays when they'll have time to sit and enjoy them. ha ha! Anyway, here's a simple card I put together using this cute snowman stamp that a friend gave to me. I don't know who makes the stamp. The only markings I found were Jack Frost 1999. The sentiment stamp is from Savvy Stamps. I used black Palette Hybrid ink and copic markers then added a couple of bazzill square brads. More papers from my scrap stash so I'm not sure of companies or colors.

I hope you're all finding some time for yourselves during this busy season. Thanks for stopping!

Winterland in Browns

I am having the best time using this recycled craft paper. It was in a bound journal that I purchased on clearance and took apart so I could use it on cards. I stamped the deer from BasicGrey's Winterland set in timber brown stazon and then stamped a couple of the ornaments from the same set in colorbox white pigment ink. The tag is cut from a coaster that I dyed with Stampin Up basic brown re-inker. I used my cuttlebug for the tag die and stamped the greeting in white pigment ink using a $1 stamp from Michael's. I tied a brown satin ribbon around the card and attached the tag using burlap string from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts. The designer paper was in my scrap stack so I don't know the name. Just a simple but fun card. I think it will make a nice Christmas card for my Dad.

Hanna Stamps in the house

I was the winner of the November card contest on Creativity {unbound} and the prize was the But I Need It set of stamps from Hanna Stamps. On Saturday in the mail arrived my set so I had to get busy and ink it up. I made a quick card using Hanna and then decided a Hanna keychain charm would be fun (if I could find my shrink plastic).

For the card I stamped Hanna on Georgia Pacific white using Palette Noir Black ink and colored her with my copic markers. She is matted on a piece of pink from Creative Keepsakes and a layer of Stampin Up Basic Grey. The striped paper is also by Creative Keepsakes.

For the keychain I stamped Hanna on clear shrink plastic using Palette Noir Black ink and colored her using my Bic Mark It permanent markers. I colored her on the opposite side of the stamped image so I didn't have to worry about smearing the ink of the image which is why she is facing the opposite direction. Once I finished coloring her I punched a hole near the top and used my heat tool to shrink her. Here's a closeup of Hanna as a keychain. Thanks for stopping!

Post it Note Pads

Sorry that I haven't posted much the last couple of days but we had another busy weekend at our house with family birthdays and holiday entertaining. I was able to get in a little crafting time so I would have something to share.


Here is one of the projects I did this weekend inspired by Angie Juda. I love the post it note holders on Angie's blog and wanted to make some for my girlfriends. I started with a square coaster and covered both sides of it with Autumn Leaves Winter Garden papers then glued a pad of post it notes to the center. Instead of using a clip on the top like
Angie did I punched two holes with my cropodile, threaded ribbon through the top and tied it in a bow. I added a large magnet to the back so they could be stuck to the refrigerator. I love having note paper on my refrigerator for making a quick shopping list or writing down a message.

Saturday's Inspiration

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday. I had a dinner party last night so the day was spend grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking. The evening was spent entertaining and laughing with girlfriends. It was a wonderful time but didn't leave any time for crafting or posting. This morning I checked the inspiration challenge on Splitcoast and was inspired by the candles in the background of the photo. I had some candles in a drawer in my craftroom and was inspired by the photo to get one out and decorate it.


For the candle I used a strip of Kelly Penacci patterned paper cut in a 1 inch by 10 inch strip and layered a 1 1/8 x 10 inch strip of Stampin Up Buckaroo Blue under the patterned paper. The rectangle of shimmery white and scalloped buckaroo blue were cut out using my nestabilites. I stamped the flower from the Jolies Fleurs set by Lizzie Anne in Buckaroo Blue and colored it in with the same color re-inker. Then I decided to make a matching card using the same materials with a different flower stamp from the same stamp set and adding a country blue ribbon to the card. I think this will make a nice simple little gift set to have a hand. Thanks for stopping.

Anna'a sketch challenge

Anna Wight posted a sketch challenge on her blog yesterday so while I was in my craftroom last night I had to come up with a card using her sketch. I pulled out several stamps and even stamped a couple of images but I just wasn't feeling it. Then I noticed a scrap of BasicGrey Figgy Pudding paper on my counter and started with that. The scrap was a piece I had run through my cuttlebug with a nestabilities die. I ended up with this angled rectangle in my scrap of paper and decided to use it. I pulled out some blue cardstock from my LSS (local stamp store) to layer it on then sewed around the edges. The next layer is Soft Sky from Stampin Up. The polka dot and brown are both from the BasicGrey Figgy Pudding line of papers. Instead of stamping an image for the card I punched out a snowflake with my Marvy punch to use as my focal point. I added a brown Bazzill Bitty Blossom behind the snowflake for some dimension and a large brad to the center. The snowflake is mounted with a popdot. For the finishing touch I added some May Arts ribbons. Thanks for stopping!

Coaster Ornament

I love the stocking ornament Jeanne posted on her blog Inky Paws and thought I would pull out one of my square coasters and try my hand at making an ornament. First I inked the edges of the coaster with some basic brown re-inker. Once that dried I covered the sides in Cosmo Cricket Wanted paper and sanded the edges. I used my cropodile to set the eyelet at the top and threaded some May Arts ribbon through it for the hanger. For the image panel I stamped my favorite horse stamp from Great Impressions on ivory shimmery cardstock using Timber Brown stazon. I used my corner rounder on each corner, distressed the edges and then sponged them with some of the timber brown ink. I added a layer of choc chip cardstock with rounded edges and then decided to add the 3 brads. The image panel is mounted with pop dots for some dimension. I really like the way this turned out and hope to find time to make more coaster ornaments.

More treats

Last night before I made the crisscross box for my husband I made some sour cream containers. I had a staff meeting this morning that I wanted to share them at so the rush was on to get them done. I used papers from a Creating Keepsakes holiday paper pack I purchased last year. My starting size was 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 (standard quarter sheet size) and I glued the short sides together first to form a tube and then applied a little mono multi glue to one end and squeezed the end flat while the glue set. Once the glue was set I ran the end through my crimper. Just a brief turn of the handle so it made about 4 or 5 ridges. Then I filled it with some Hershey kisses and repeated the process of gluing the other end shut in the opposite direction. Again, once the glue was set I ran the end through the crimper. After I had made several I decided they needed some ribbon so I pulled out my 1/8 hole punch, punched two holes, threaded the ribbon through and tied in a bow. The ribbon is more striped organdy ribbon from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts.

They were at big hit at the meeting and I enjoyed making them. I can see I'll be making more of these in my future. Thanks for stopping.

Crisscross Box

Did you see the crisscross box that Nichole Heady posted on her blog the other day?! I loved her sample and was very happy to see that she shared the template.

I decided to make one for my husband. During these busy few weeks before the holidays we tend to be stressed and sometimes end up being short with those we love so I thought this would be a nice reminder of how I truly feel. The base of my box is BasicGrey Jade Motif. I brayer Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink on the inside of the box before assembling to give it a more aged look. The edges have all been sponged with SU Really Rust. For the band around the box I used a strip of SU Very Vanilla and sponged the edges with SU Really Rust and a strip of SU Chocolate Chip. I distressed the Choc Chip layer using my Heidi Swapp Edge Distresser. Then I used my nestabilities for my rectangles and stamped the Love in Choc Chip and again sponged the edges with Really Rust. For the labels on the chocolates I stamped Love on the center of each label using Choc Chip ink and then brayer them with the Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink. For a finishing touch I sponged some Really Rust on them. I used Stampin Up's tab punch on a scrap of the BasicGrey paper, sponged the edges with Really Rust, and attached it to the bag of candies with a staple.

I hope he likes it.

Thankful Thoughts

I love the SU retired Thankful Thoughts set and was very happy to find it at a garage sale this summer so I could add it to my collection. This little girl and her puppy are my favorite stamp in the set and have seen the most ink. I had a request for several all occasion cards and this was one of the designs I did. The image is stamped with versamagic midnight black on very vanilla and cut out using my nestabilities. The edges have been sponged using Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink. I layered that on a black scalloped edge piece that I cut out using the scalloped rectangle nestabilities. On the bottom I tied a bow using 5/8 inch black organdy ribbon. This piece is mounted on a background piece of K&Co designer paper and a very vanilla base. As always, thanks for stopping.

So you bought the hinged tins . . .

aren't you going to do something with them?

Ok, it's time to pull out the nugget tins that Nichole is selling at PapertreyInk and use them. I had to have them when I saw them but once they arrived I put them in a drawer where they have been sitting ever since so last night I pulled them out and got to work. I pulled out my retired SU Stipple Celebrations set to decorate my labels. For each label I stamped the snowflake three times in order to cover it. I went with cool caribbean, certainly celery and pretty in pink for my colors. Since the stamp I used it a little wider than the labels I pulled every other label off of the strip of labels and placed them on a scrap of empty label paper so when I stamped I didn't have to worry about getting ink on the labels on either side. It sure doesn't take long to stamp a tin of nugget labels. Now to decorate the top of the tin. I pulled out the wood snowflakes I bought at Michael's a few weeks ago and gave them a nice coating of glitter. I applied glitter glue to the raised layer of the snowflake and the dots and then sprinkled pink glitter over the top and set it aside to dry. Once the glue was dry I pulled out the wonderful striped organdy ribbon I found at Heidi's new on-line store (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts) to use for my bow. This ribbon is so pretty and affordable! 50 yards of 5/8 inch striped organdy ribbon for $5 - you can't go wrong. She also had great prices on brads and eyelets. Check it out.


So, what do you think? Are you inspired to get your tins out of the closet and use them?

Stitched Cherry Blossoms

I am having the best time with my sewing machine. As an added bonus I had to clean my craft room in order to make a space on my counter for my sewing machine so now my craft room is clean and ready for new messes. I'm embarrassed to admit how messy my room was. I had stacks of stuff on the floor (designer papers and magazines), my ribbon bins were overflowing, my counter was covered in scraps and stamps and ink pads and markers and punches that all needed putting away. I'm happy to report it is now straightened up enough that I found room on my counter for my sewing machine. I pulled out my rubber stampede cherry blossom stamp for this card. I wanted to make a few flat cards for easy mailing so I just sewed the green panel on the craft background and then sewed the flower panel on top without adding any more layers or pop dots. Sometimes it's nice to be able to throw a card in the mail without having to worry about extra postage or the envelope tearing from a bulky embellishment. I think I may go back and add a little sparkle to the flowers though to dress it up a bit. The flower was stamped using palette noir ink and colored using my watercolor wonder crayons and copic markers. I also added some sponging to the edges of the flower panel using seashell pink ink.

Sewing frenzy

Now that I've tried sewing on my cards I can't stop. I hope you don't mind more cards in stitches. {giggle} I pulled out my Cosmo Cricket wanted paper again and made a couple more western cards. I love this stamp from Great Impressions paired with the Cosmo Cricket papers. This stitch reminds me of barbed wire so I thought it would go great with the theme of the card. I made the felt flower using my flower cuttlebug die and added a faux brad (an upholstery tack) to the center. The edges of the cosmo cricket panel were sponged with timber brown stazon. The horse was stamped in timber brown stazon on Very Vanilla (SU) and the edges of the panel were sponged with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Antique Linen. The second card uses the same products except for the brads. I went with a little different layout for the second card and added some zigzag stitching. I wanted to use a blanket stitch around the horse panel but I couldn't get my sewing machine to cooperate.


Thanks for stopping.

Bella Ball

Last night at Splitcoast there was a party for Stamping Bella in honor of her one year anniversary since launching her bellas! As part of the festivities there were several challenges posted and this card is for the Bella Ball #2 sketch challenge posted by AmyR. I pulled out my beachabella 'cause I thought it would be a nice change from the reality of the cold and snow we have outside. I paired her up with some Winter Garden paper from Autumn Leaves that I just bought at Target and ribbon I found at Michael's. I really like the way this card turned out. It's a great sketch to work with.

I like this Autumn Leaves paper so much I decided to make another card using it. This card uses a slightly different layout with some dotted ribbon. The bellas are stamped on Georgia Pacific white cardstock using palette noir black and then colored with copic markers. The image panels are both cards are mounted using pop dots.

Thanks for stopping. And congrats to Em for her first successful year in business and wishes for many more to come.

Time for a change

After I finished decorating the tree last night I went in my craft room to stamp. I decided it was time to stamp something other than holiday cards so I pulled out my paisley butterflies from Pink Cat Studios. I think these stamps are just so darn cute. They were part of my prize from Kim's contest back in October and had only seen ink once so it was time to ink them up again.





For this card I stamped the butterfly twice using buckaroo blue ink and then colored them with my copics. I sponged the edges with buckaroo blue and mounted it on a layer of buckaroo blue. The designer papers are from the Die Cuts With a View Pocket full of posies collection. I am in need of some all occasion cards so instead of adding a sentiment I just added some ribbon from Michael's. I used the slot punch from Stampin Up to thread the ribbon through the butterfly panel.




I stamped the small butterfly on this card using palette noir black and colored him in with my copics. I added some crystal stickles to the center of the wings to match the glitter accents on the background paper. The edge of the butterfly panel was stamped with Oodles of Doodles from Paper Salon using soft sky ink and then the edges were sponged with the same ink. This was layered onto a piece of wild wasabi. In order to add the ribbon I used a circle punch on the side of the image panel to punch out a half circle to make room for the ribbon. The image panel is mounted on pop dots. Then ribbon is tied around the layer of sky blue and white and for the bottom of the card I used the Pocket full of posies glitter paper from Die Cuts With a View and mounted it on a layer of white. The base of the card is sky blue. They're both simple cards but a nice change from all of the holiday cards I've made lately.
It's a beautiful day here today if you don't have to go outdoors. The sky is blue and the sun is shining. The snow is sparkling in the sunshine but if you have to go outdoors - dress warm. The current temperature is 1 with a wind chill factor of -10. They are forecasting wind chills between -20 and -40 for the weekend so it will be a good reason to stay in and get some baking done.
What's the weather like where you are today? Feel free to leave me a comment to let me know how nice it is where you are. Thanks for stopping.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I finally decorated the tree in the family room. We put the tree up last weekend but never got around to decorating it. So that was my goal for tonight. I love taking the ornaments out of the boxes and remembering the story behind each one. I have several ornaments that were my Grandmother's and some from other family members. Some that were on my parents tree when I was young. Also some that my daughter made when she was younger. We have ornaments from family vacations and many ornaments from friends. They all have such great memories with them.

May you have time to recall some great memories this holiday season.

Melted Pearls

I've had two sets of pearl ex (Series I and II) for years and I finally tried the tutorial for melted pearls. What a great technique. When I have used pearl ex in the past I've just brushed it over versamark and sealed it with aerosol hairspray so the pearl ex doesn't rub off on everything but melting it into the clear embossing powder is genius!

I used the melted pearls technique on the small flower center and the linograph background piece. If you're not familiar with the technique, just stamp your image in versamark, heat emboss with clear embossing powder and while it is still warm brush pearl ex over it. Then reheat a little so the pearl ex melts into the embossing powder. Once cooled brush off any excess pearl ex and you're done. I love the results and will be using it again. The sketch is from Scrappin' and Stampin' Chat. I found the link for it on Inspiration Blooms.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping.

Supplies: Paper - white, craft, buckaroo blue, designer paper from scrap box (no markings). Stamps - baroque motifs, linograph both from Stampin Up. Ink - buckaroo blue, versamark. Accessories - pearl ex, clear embossing powder, heat tool, pop dots, brad, sewing machine

Living Large

A co-worker asked me for a 30th birthday card so I pulled out a Living Large image that I got from a wish RAK on Splitcoast. I colored her with my reinkers and aquapainter then used my Nestabilities to cut out the image and the scalloped mat. The numbers are cool caribbean which I ran through my Cuttlebug using the Olivia set. The sentiment is from the Formal Sentiments set from Clear Dollar Stamps. All of the patterned papers are from the K&Co K-ology Addison collection. As always, thanks for stopping!

Happy Mail Day

My Nestabilities Rectangle sets arrived today! I ran right to my craft room to try them out and I love them! Unfortunately I forgot to order the embossing pad so I guess I'll have to go shopping again. I still had the Figgy Pudding paper out from yesterday so I used it to make up a couple of quick cards using my Nestabilities. The branches are from the Winterland clear stamp set from Basic Grey. I colored the stamp with my SU markers and stamped it on shimmery vanilla. The words are from the Holiday Wishes set from Papertrey Ink.

I cut up a piece of fun foam and experimented
with using that in my embossing sandwich and after several attempts was able to make it work on the stamped panel for this card. I inked the Basic Grey clear stamp using SU markers and was impressed with how well the stamp took the ink. The message is from the Holiday Wishes set by Papertrey Ink. The ribbon is from May Arts.

For this card I used different sizes of the nestabilities and added a paper ribbon with a fancy brad. Ok, it's not really a fancy brad - it's an upholstery nail that I cut the back off of to use as a brad. I found them on clearance and thought they would make nice faux brads.

Thanks for stopping.

Figgy Pudding in the house

My LSS now has Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding line of papers. And they have the new Basic Grey clear stamps too. Well, when I heard that I had to make a trip to see what I could find. They were out of the figgy pudding collection packs by the time I got there but did have some of the individual sheets for sale so I left with some of the papers plus the Winterland clear stamp set. When I saw the Winterland set I knew I wanted to try coloring the wreath so I had to buy it and bring it home to play.

I stamped the wreath on black cardstock using Colorbox white pigment ink (similar to craft ink). Once the white ink was dry I pulled out my copic markers and colored over the white image. This is similar to the chalkboard technique only instead of applying chalk over the white image I used my copic markers. Because of the detail of the image I thought my copics would work better than chalk. Once I had colored the image I added a little sparkle with my red marvy twinklette glitter marker for the berries and my stardust gel pen for the leaves. All of the designer papers are from the Figgy Pudding line and mounted on craft paper and then onto a white card base. I sponged the edges of the figgy papers with basic brown for some depth and then added some ribbon that I bought at WalMart. Thanks so much for stopping.

Where's the quilt?

My Grandmother was a quilter and my Mom is a quilter. Over the years they have both made us lovely quilts but sadly they are stored away in the closet. Why you ask . . . see picture!

This was the scene in our bedroom last night. My husband was laying across the bottom of the bed watching football and these two were making themselves comfortable. This is why they are kenneled at night. Clearly all four of us would not fit comfortably in the bed and if they are not kenneled they insist on being in our bed. So the quilts will remain in the closet for safekeeping.

I'll have a card to share shortly. Please stop back.

Fluffles for the holidays

I saw this All Occasion stamp from Stamp It on my shelf and decided to ink it up. I've had it forever but haven't used it much because I have a hard time getting it inked up evenly and stamping a nice clean image so I decided to try using chalk ink with it and it worked great! I got nice even coverage using Olive Pastel Colorbox chalk ink. Next I circled the "Happy Holidays" using a copic multiliner.

Then I got out my Stampendous Fluffles clear set and stamped 3 trees and fluffles wearing a santa hat with palette noir black on white cardstock. I colored them with my copic markers and cut them out. Fluffles and one of the trees were mounted on pop dots for some dimension and stickles were added to the tree ornaments and the trim of fluffles hat. For the top right corner of the card I cut out a photo corner and ran it through my cuttlebug using the stitched squares embossing folder. To help make the stitches stand out I sponged them with white craft ink. Now that I know what great results I get using chalk inks on this stamp I think I'll have to use it more often. Thanks for stopping.

Metallic paper challenge

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I spent the morning running errands and the rest of the day cleaning and trying to get my Christmas decorations up. It was a good day to be inside because it was snowing. In the last 24 hours we received 12 inches of snow with a possibility of 2 more inches by morning.



I found some time to stamp today and worked on last week's "Ways to Use it challenge" on Splitcoast which was to use metallic papers. I have the Die Cuts With a View Luxury stack of pearlized papers that I thought would be perfect for this challenge. For my stamped image I went with the wonderful bird in the Majestic Flight set from Inque Boutique. I stamped him in versamark and embossed him with copper on the same paper I used for the background.

The base is ivory shimmer with a layer of DCWV paper on it. I found the wonderful wire looking ribbon in my craft room when cleaning yesterday and added that under the strip of amber cool metallics paper from The Paper Company. The ribbon is auburn from Offray. Thanks for stopping!

Working on my mojo again

Here is my card for this weeks Mojo Monday sketch from Julee at Poetic Artistry. I decided to ink up my Elzybells Igloo stamp for this one. The image is stamped in palette noir black and then colored with my copic markers. I added a little bit of frosted lace stickles for some sparkle. Then I punched the image out with my pink scalloped oval punch from Marvy. Instead of matting the image on to more ovals I used my colluzle oval template and cut out the oval frame using some green Basic Grey paper. The other papers are from the K-ology Addison collection from K&Company. I wanted to add brads to the little tabs but didn't have any red brads so I colored white ones with my lipstick red copic marker. This was a fun sketch to work with.


Switching gears now, let's talk weather. I live in Duluth, MN which is located on the southwestern tip of Lake Superior and the current temperature is -4 degrees. A little cold for November (even in Duluth) but that still isn't keeping people inside. Here' s a photo I took out my office window earlier today of some people flying a kite.


May you all have a kite flying kind of day.