Merry Little Christmas

Half of March is G-O-N-E, GONE!

This year is whooshing by!

Today is REMINDER DAY

at

CAS Christmas Card Challenge.

This month's challenge is Deer 

and

hosted by Susan.

It's also our 1st Birthday Celebration

so come join us!

There are PRIZES!

I wanted to "think outside the box" a little, so thought a reindeer peeking behind an ornament would be different.  So, as the hubs remarked, it's either a really tiny reindeer or a gigantic ornament!  HAHAHAHA!  I used the reindeer stamp in the set "Peeking Friends" by Gerda Steiner.  I don't color as much as I would like and so this gave me some time to practice coloring with Copics.  I need more practice.  I did shimmer his nose with some Nuvo Shimmer.  The ornament is a stamp/die by Hero Arts, one of their monthly kits, November 2017 I believe.  I started out by cutting the ornament on the white Bristol cardstock and then stamping the reindeer above the hole.  Next I took my Versamark pen and outlined around the edge of the ornament cut and embossed in WOW Fine Gold embossing powder.  The inner ornament piece is a watercolored background piece that I stamped the "Christmas" word in Versamark and embossed in the gold as well.  After coloring the reindeer, I stamped the rest of the sentiment in CP Midnight and then adhered the inner ornament piece behind the panel.  I used the white ornament piece that had been cut out and versamarked the hanger end and embossed it in gold embossing powder three times and then added the gold twine and adhered it to the card before placing the panel on some gold mirror cardstock between it and the cardbase.  A very simple card that could be reproduced even by just using the ornament stamp and stamping it instead of the die cut.

Please stop by the CAS Christmas blog and see all the other Design Team's mid-month projects.  Come play along and get some "deer" Christmas cards made for next Christmas!

CAS Christmas "Deer" Blessings!

Krafty Chicks #446 Shades of Green Only

Happy Thursday once again!  

Man they seem to fly up on us awfully fast!  

Anyway, it's time for another challenge at Krafty Chicks Challenge.  Leanne is our hostess and she wants to see GREEN, lots and lots of Green shades and ONLY GREEN (of course neutrals are fine with it)!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #446 Shades of Green Only

I was playing around with the Marble Swirl stamp set by Catherine Pooler and different color combos and this is the green version, which I really love! It's such a cool stamp, looks like marble of course, but can look like lava, or a river, or terrain.  I even recently used it to add pattern inside flower petals.  So today it's the green one for our Shades of Green Twist at Krafty Chicks Challenge.

So stop by the Hen House and check out the rest of the Chicks' GREEN projects.  Come play along with us and ink up your own shades of green.  You can also play in our always "anything goes" challenge as well but if you play with our twist, you could be one of our next showcase winners! 

Green Krafty Chick Blessings!

Hello...You Did It!...Thanks

Happy Friday!

The weekend is here!  Hope yours will be a fabulous one!  I've been crafty busy, just haven't had a lot of time to share the results.  Some will come at later dates since they are DT cards.  Today however, I wanted to share some stenciled cards I made while participating in the Stenciling class over at Stamp Nation.  

Ingrid Blackburn was our instructor and she had some great techniques to share with us.  These cards I made from Lesson #1, Stencil Blending.  Basically you take some dark colored cardstock with a stencil and apply white pigment ink and let it completely dry.  Then, you choose 2-3 other colors, move the stencil over slightly and blend those colors on top.  You get the cool effect of the background on the left above.  I decided to leave most of the backgrounds intact for this time.  I made my own stencil from craft plastic using the CP Stained Glass cover plate. 

I made three cards from my two backgrounds above using all Catherine Pooler Designs products and inks:

The "Hello" card I die cut the center with the CP basic circle die, then replaced it with the brighter design circle cut also and bumped up with craft foam.  The hello die I added a white one behind one of Smoke cardstock as a shadow and then added crystal glaze to the grey one on top.  I shimmered the stars with a Nuvo shimmer pen.

The "Thanks" card, I took my homemade stencil of the Interlocked Die by CP Designs and brushed on Orange Twist and Flirty Fushia on Mirror cardstock.  Then I adhered the circle cut from my first blended stenciled background with a white scallop edge around it.  The sentiment die I shimmered with Nuvo shimmer pen.

My last one, my favorite one of the trio, I used craft foam to bump up the second stenciled background, with the middle cut out, onto a Smoke colored cardbase after I stamped the sentiment in the center and embossed in white embossing powder.  I then cut the heart border and inked it in Flirty Fuchsia for some depth and interest.   The other sentiment, I cut two "celebrates" one in white the other in Smoke and shadowed the white behind the smoke. I added shimmered hearts and clear sequins.

CARD SUPPLIES:
STAMPS: Sentiment - "You Did It" Set by Catherine Pooler.
PAPER: Neenah White Solar 110 lb cardstock; Smoke & Mirror cardstocks by Catherine Pooler. 
INK: Orange Twist, Flirty Fuchsia - Party Collection by Catherine Pooler. White pigment ink - Stampin' Up. Versamark.
EXTRAS: Thanks, Celebrate & Hello Dies - Catherine Pooler; Heart Circle die - Love Connection by Catherine Pooler. White Emboss powder - WOW; Stained Glass Cover plate - Catherine Pooler; Stars and heart dies - 2 You's by Cas-ual Fridays for Catherine Pooler. Purple and orange enamel dots; Clear sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; Nuvo Crystal Glaze; Nuvo Shimmer Pen.

Stenciling Blessings!

Krafty Chicks #445 - Babies

OOOPS!  

Someone photobombed again and tried to steal my card!

It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks Challenge.

Lori is our hostess and 

she has chosen Babies for the twist this week!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #445 - Babies

Also, beginning this month, we will be having special monthly Guest Designers with us.

Our first Guest is Danielle Vincent!

Please help us welcome her and leave her some blog love!

Now, here is my Baby card for this week ---

I used mostly Lil' Inker Designs products, except the "girl" sentiment is Paper Sweeties and the scallop and heart dies are Avery Elle.  I love that embossed stork, embossed in        Wow Oyster Glintz embossing powder.  It's a really pretty creamy glittery color.  The background behind the heart shape and the diaper were cut from some alcohol inked background in pink shades and a hint of gold that I had in my stash. I embossed the "girl" sentiment in gold emboss powder. 

Stop by the Hen House to check out the rest of the Chicks' projects, as well as GD Danielle.  Then go get inky and play along with us, either in our always anything goes or add our twist of "Babies".  If you try the twist you may be one of our next showcased winners!

Krafty Chick Blessings!

CAS Christmas - Deer

Hello Sunday!

Hope you are having a wonderful first weekend of March!

Boy, this year is just "marching" along!  

Ok, I just had to say it, pun definitely intended! LOL

Anyway, it's time for a new monthly challenge

at

 CAS Christmas Card Challenge!

It's also our 1st Birthday, so come celebrate with us!

There are prizes so stop by the CAS Christmas blog for details!

Susan is our hostess this month 

and

she is requesting Christmas cards featuring Deer!

I wanted to use this cute little deer from Stamping Bella for this month's challenge.  I stamped him on the smooth side of watercolor paper, then used my Zigs and waterbrush to color him, add a rink and sky.  The die cut is Catherine Pooler Designs.  I cut the image out with the largest die and then cut a frame using the two largest dies and cut it from silver foil cardstock.  I added WOW Wunderlust to the "ice", shimmered his skate blades and the scarf fluff with Nuvo Shimmer pen and added Nuvo Crystal Glaze to his red nose to make it shiny, even if it doesn't show up well in the picture.

Stop by the CAS Christmas Challenge blog and see all the rest of the fabulous inspiration from the CAS Christmas DT and our Guest Designer, Chrissie.  Then, come play along with us and get some CAS Christmas cards done, just make sure this month the main focus is DEER.

CAS Christmas Blessings!

Krafty Chicks #444 Shimmer & Bling

Good Morning!

Hope you are having a good week!

It's Thursday so that means a new challenge

at 

Krafty Chicks Challenge.

Tangii is our hostess this week.

Krafty Chicks Challenge #444 Shimmer & Bling!

I put a lot of shimmer and a little bling on mine, using an alcohol inked and gold shimmered background and then cutting everything out in gold foil cardstock.  I love how this turned out!

Go to the Hen House and check out the rest of the Chicks' and their shimmery projects with bling!  Come play along with us and try our Shimmer & Bling Twist!

Card Supplies:
Paper: Yupo paper; White cardbase (Neenah 110 lb); Gold foil cardstock (Stampin' Up).
Ink:Alcohol Inks (Tim Holtz).
Extras: Feather die (Catherine Pooler Designs); Cover plate - (My Favorite Things - old); Incredible/Wonderful dies(Concord 9th); You die (Cas-ual Fridays); water drop gems.

Krafty Chick Blessings!

Born To Stand Out

Hello Tuesday!

Today is a very special day --- 

it's our first born, Patrick's 27th birthday!

🎈HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK!  🎁

 .             

This is his birthday card I made ---

He loves meerkats so I had to get this stamp set from Art Impressions to use just for him.  I colored them with Zigs.  I popped up the guy on the left since he's the special "kat" today.  I used some Nuvo Crystal Glaze on the balloon and the hat pom pom.

I like how this turned out.  I don't color as much as I want.  For some reason, I feel daunted by it.  I'm always my worst critic.  I'm sharing this in the The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.  Everytime this challenge comes up, I want to participate and time gets away from me and then those daunting feelings begin to emerge.  That was a resolution of mine this year, to color more, practice more and yet here I am still daunted and intimidated.  However, since making this card, I feel a little more confident, a little less intimidated.  So, I'm hoping to forge ahead now, and like Kathy says, color "even just for 10 minutes a day". 

Birthday Boy Blessings!

Purple Pearly Birthday

Hello, it's me again!  Told you I had lots to share.  I've been trying to give some of my different mediums a little more crafty love so here is another card using Perfect Pearls.  This birthday card is for my mother inlaw, whose birthday was yesterday. 

I started off by inking up some white cardstock with ink color, Royal Treatment, by Catherine Pooler.  After it was dry, I stamped the wildflowers from the Catherine Pooler set, Wonderful Wildflowers, the outlined flower stamps in Versamark ink and white embossed them.  Then I took the solid matching flower stamp stamped in Versamark and stamped the inside of the stamp.  Next, I brushed Perfect Pearls, the pearl color, onto the images and brushed off all the excess so that all that remained was inside the flowers.  Then, I took part of the Marble Swirl stamp, uninked, and stamped it over the images so wherever there was Perfect Pearls, mostly inside the petals, the image would adhere.  I then stamped a "happy" in the Royal Treatment on white linen cardstock and cut out the "birthday" sentiment from silver mirror cardstock.   I adhered the purple panel to a white linen cardstock base and added some small and medium clear gems for a little added bling.  I really like how it turned out with that cool pattern inside the flowers. 

For Following Challenges:

Pearly, Purple Blessings!

Hey There...

Good Morning again!

I finally got some good crafting time last week! Now, hopefully, I can begin to share the fruits of my labor.  Here is one of them.  I tried out a faux stained glass technique shown by Jennifer McGuire.

I used the Interlock Die, part of the recent release, Welcome Home, by Catherine Pooler Designs.  I started by adhering a 4-1/4x5-1/2 Stick It paper between two pieces of white cardstock.  I then placed the die on top of the top piece and using my metal shim, I ran it through my Big Shot so that it only made an impression onto the cardstock, not cutting it through.  Then, I ran the die through again with another piece of white cardstock, adhered to another piece of Stick it, smooshed Versamark onto it and then embossed it in silver embossing powder.  With the "Impressed" piece, I colored it in with Zigs.  Next I pressed Versamark all over the colored piece and embossed with clear WOW embossing powder.  Then, I peeled off the backing and pressed the silver embossed die on top of the colored piece.  After that, I decided to add Nuvo Crystal Glaze on top for extra punch.  While I let that dry overnight, I made the cardbase with Midnight cardstock and die cut the sentiment from the same and adhered to the edge.

For Following Challenges:

Hugs & Blessings~

Keeping Christmas February 2019

Happy Monday!

It's February 25th, that means a new Keeping Christmas Blog Hop!  Each month on the 25th the Keeping Christmas Design Team showcases Christmas card inspiration to help you get started on your stash early!  

I tried a Perfect Pearls technique for my card today.  You can see the technique here. I used the house stamps from the Happy Place set by Catherine Pooler Designs. I kept the rest pretty simple.  I stamped, clear embossed and die cut Santa's sled (Here We Come A Caroling by Catherine Pooler Designs), added a simple greeting (Lawn Fawn) and some white snow dots to finish it off.

Hop along the list below and get inspired to create some Christmas cheer throughout the year!

Kelly Lunceford

Lesley Croghan

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld (You are HERE)

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

Nancy Guse

Keeping Christmas Blessings!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #443 Shades of Pink & Red

Happy Thursday!  

Time for a new challenge

at

Krafty Chicks Challenge!

Amy is our hostess this week

and

she is looking for a color scheme of pinks and reds!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #443 - Shades of Pinks and Red

This card came out different than my first thought.  I had inked up all the layers using ink to paper and then stamped them tone on tone for each layer, before cutting the hearts out.  My original plan was to fashion them together light to dark and make a shaker from the smallest heart window.  Well...I measured on my Misti where to place the cardstock so each panel would stamp the same (so I thought).  However, my last layer, the red, must have been a bit smaller so it stamped a little off center from the other two. Also, I realized the top two layers had a hard line on one side from the edge of the stamp.  So, I trimmed down the top two layers and just used the small heart die cut out for the red.  I stamped the sentiment and embossed with white emboss powder on black cardstock and cut tails off each end.  The "Hello" is a die cut from Ways to Say Hey by Catherine Pooler I glued down and then adhered the banner sentiment on top with foam tape.  Sequins were added to bring on some bling.  I wound up liking it just as well as my original idea.  I'll still keep the shaker idea in mind to try again.

Please stop by the Hen House and check out the rest of the Chicks' beautiful projects.  Then come play along with us in our Color Scheme twist and you may be one of our next Chick Picks or play in our always ATG challenge and share a project with us.

Card Supplies:

STAMPS: Rondi's Window background stamp (Catherine Pooler Designs); Sentiment from Awesome/Wonderful Set (Catherine Pooler Designs).

PAPER: White cardstock (Neenah 110 lb Solar White).

INK: It's A Girl, Party Dress, Samba (Catherine Pooler Inks); Versamark.

EXTRAS:Hello Die from Ways to Say Hey Die set (Catherine Pooler Designs); White emboss powder (WOW); clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); Foam Tape (3M); Glue (Gina K Connect); Double sided tape runner (3M); Micro glue dots.

Krafty Chicks Blessings!

Peace Heart For CAS Christmas

Happy Sunday!

Today we are more than halfway through the month of February!

So today is REMINDER DAY

at

CAS Christmas Card Challenge!

With it being February (Valentine's month) and the fact that I was on vacation the end of January and didn't get many Valentines made, I decided to go with a less traditional color scheme and stamp set for my Christmas card today.  I love that heart shaped globe by Lil Inker Designs and wanted to use it.  I think it's perfect with the die, Radiating Love Heart by Lil' Inker Designs as well.

With my Misti stamping tool, I inked up the stamp using CP Inks for a two toned look and stamped on CP Designs white cardstock.  Next, I took ink pad to paper and made a pink border on a white cardbase to match the light pink in the heart.  Then I die cut the Radiating Love Heart die on Neenah white cardstock after trimming it down to 4 x 5-1/4.  I also cut the sentiment from black cardstock twice, glued them together and applied clear Nuvo crystal glaze on the top layer. I fussy cut the heart stamp following along the shape of the stamp design and adhered it to the cardbase which I had already adhered the die cut layer.  Final touch was gluing the sentiment onto the heart.

Please stop by the CAS Christas Blog and check out all the rest of the creative team's projects.  Then come play along, you have until February 24th to link up your CAS Peace Christmas card.  

Card Supplies:

STAMPS: Heart - One Love (Lil' Inker Designs).

PAPER: White cardbase - Neenah Solar 110 lb; Premium White cardstock by Catherine Pooler Designs.

INK: It's a Girl, Party Dress - Party Collection (Catherine Pooler Inks).

EXTRAS: Sentiment die(Die-Versions); Radiating Love Heart die (Lil' Inker Designs); Nuvo Crystal Glaze (Tonic).

CAS Christmas Blessings!

Krafty Chicks #442 Sweets

Happy Thursday!

 💖 Happy Valentine's Day! 💖

I've was on vacation for 12 days and boy, has reality slammed head on since I returned!  I need another vacation already.  I've also really missed my craft room.  So what better way to get back into it than to be the hostess for this week's Krafty Chicks Challenge!

It is Valentine's Day so I thought a little "sweet" challenge was in order!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #442 Sweets

Stop by the Hen House and check out the rest of the Chicks' Sa-weet projects!  Then come play along with us and make something papery sweet!

Krafty Chick Blessings!

Peace - CAS Christmas February 2019

Good Morning, Sunday!

Super Bowl Sunday!  Go PATRIOTS! 

It's February so new challenges are happening!

This month at CAS Christmas, Colleen is our hostess.

The monthly theme is PEACE!

I have had this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp for awhile and didn't get to use it for this Christmas.  I hope to use it a few more times for this coming Christmas.  I stamped the "manger" and just lightly brushed on some light brown using Zig Real Brush Water Pen.  I stamped the holy family and then selected rainbow colors from my Zigs to watercolor the image.  I did the same for the sentiment (by Catherine Pooler Designs).  I fussy cut the two images and bumped them up for a little dimension.  

Stop by the CAS Christmas blog and check out the rest of the design team's projects.  Also, welcome our Guest Designer, Linda!  Come play along with us all month creating your own CAS Christmas card themed with "Peace".  You can link up as much as you want just make sure its a new card each time.  

Stamp Supplies:

STAMPS: Nativity (Simon Says Stamp); Sentiment - Home for the Holidays (Catherine Pooler SOA).

PAPER: Watercolor paper (Tim Holtz); Neenah white solar crest 110 lb.

INK: Midnight (Catherine Pooler Archival Ink); Zig Real Brush Color Pens.

CAS Christmas Blessings!