Keeping Christmas - April 2019

Good Morning!

It's the 25th of April.  

It's time for the Keeping Christmas Inspiration Blog Hop.

On the 25th of each month throughout the year we have a blog hop of Christmas cards to help inspire you to build upon your  Christmas cards stash through the year.

This January, the Hubs and I went to Sedona, Arizona where we have a timeshare for some much needed R&R (need to go back for more already).  It was our second trip there and we went to Tucson also to visit friends.  Our consensus is that we've fallen inlove with the southwest. No moving plans as of yet, but it's at the top of the bucket list now.  LOL So much, that I have been looking for more southwest stamps, finally got some and so I thought I'd do some non-traditional Christmas cards this month, southwest style. 

I saw this llama die by Impression Obsession recently and just had to have it.  I also got the background stamps, called Aztec by Joy Clair.  As you see, I went a little excessive with him, creating five different cards.  

I cut out all the llamas first in three different neutral colored cardstock.  I layered three llamas for each card for a little dimension.  Once I chose a color palette, I took ink to paper to create some coordinating pieces for the scarves, ears and speech bubbles using Catherine Pooler Inks. I also went ahead and inked up some cardbases too.

Next, I did the backgrounds all the same, just changed up the colors a little on each one, but still kept a southwestern color scheme.  It took a little time to stamp all the backgrounds, but if yo plan out the pattern and the color palettes ahead of time, you can roll right through them pretty quickly.  I started at the bottom of the background, using my Misti and just rotated out each card for each stamp. 

I hope you enjoyed my southwestern holiday bundle. Now, hop through the list below and see what my fellow KC Blog Hop teammates have created.  They always blow me away with their beautiful creations!

Kelly Lunceford

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggin

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld (You are HERE)

Nina Forsyth

Vicki Finger

Nancy Guse

Card Supplies:

STAMPS: Aztec Background Set (Joy Clair); Warm Wishes & Tis Season Sentiments (Catherine Pooler); Falalala Llama (Pretty Cute Stamps); Fleece Navidad (Flora & Fauna).

PAPER: White cardstock - Neenah 100 lb Solar white; Sand Dunes, Chocolate & Mirror (Catherine Pooler).

INK: Midnight, Twilight, Icing on the Cake, Over Coffee, All That Jazz, Mardi Gras, Tiki Torch, Bellini, Samba Dye Inks (Catherine Pooler).

EXTRAS: Llama die (Impression Obsession); Speech Bubble die (So old I don't remember).

Keeping Christmas Blessings!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #452 - Color Palette

Hello Everyone!

It's Thursday so you know that means a new challenge over at 

Krafty Chicks Challenge!

I'm your hostess and I have a color palette for our twist!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #450 Color Palette

My card ---

I've been doing a little more stenciling these days and so I did with my card for today.  I used a stencil by Simon Says with blending brushes and blended CP Inks Coral Cabana and Mint To Be. Then I made some masks for my stenciled images so I could stamp a background around them.  I used the script background stamp by Catherine Pooler in Mint To Be.  I stamped the sentiment by WPlus9 in Mint To Be on a stitched banner to adhere to the middle of the card with foam adhesive.  Finally I die cut the "mom" sentiment from white cardstock, versamarked it and embossed  it with Oyster emboss powder.  I did this three times to get a very creamy metallic look.  Finally added some green sequins.

Please stop by the Hen House and check out the rest of the Design Team's colorful projects, as well as that of our April Guest Designer, Bonnie Klass, and leave them all some blog love.  Then play along with our Color Palette Twist this week.  

Krafty Chick Blessings!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #451 Flowers

Hello Everyone!

It's Thursday so you know that means a new challenge over at 

Krafty Chicks Challenge!

Leanne is our hostess this week and she is looking for flowers for our twist.

Krafty Chicks Challenge #451 Flowers

When Bonnie and I got together recently she showed me a "new to me" technique of using baby wipes with distress oxide inks on photo paper.  

Squish the ink on a craft mat then spritz with water. Then, smoosh your paper around in the wet ink randomly however you want.  Play around with the amount of water because you get interesting cool patterns depending upon the amount of water.  Heat set in between colors and layers. I did one color layer at a time. You want it dry when applying each next layer.  When you have the colors/layers you want it will be that dry chalky look.  You can stop there and use the baby wipe.  Just start at one end and wipe down in sections so you don't get streaking or splotches and watch the magic of the colors become very vivid and glassy!   

If you want to stamp an image before wiping down, choose a solid stamp image and one of the distress oxide color that is a little darker than the background colors so it stands out. Do the same steps again.  I used my Misti to do this because the stamp will stick to the paper if it is a clear stamp.  I found red rubber stamps work better, they stick less and as with distress inks, you may need to restamp a couple times.  Ink the image, spritz lightly with water then stamp.  Dry the image thoroughly before wiping down the entire page with the baby wipe.  AND BEWARE, it gets addicting watching "the magic" appear!  LOL 

Please stop by the Hen House and check out the rest of the Design Team's feathery friends, as well as that of our April Guest Designer, Bonnie Klass, and leave them all some blog love.  Then play along with our flower twist this week.  

Krafty Chick Blessings!

CAS Christmas - Elf Reminder

Good afternoon this fine Wednesday!

Today is a the halfway point for the CAS Christmas Challenge.  I'm your hostess this month and our theme is Elf.  So come play along with us until April 24th and share your clean and simple Elf card.

I used and old elf stamp by Hero Arts and colored him with Catherine Pooler inks and a blender pen. The striped frame and sentiment are by Papertrey Ink which I stamped in Mardi Gras green ink and masked off to stamp the argyle strip behind in Samba red ink.  This is a pretty quick and easy card to mass produce and also change up the color scheme.

Stop by the CAS Christmas Blog to see some fabulous Elf inspiration from the the rest of the CAS Christmas Design Team and our Guest Designer for April, Joann.  

Card Supplies:

STAMPS: Elf - "Santa's Elves" (Hero Arts); Frame and Sentiment - "Elf Sentiments" (Papertrey Ink); Argyle border - "Everyday Mod"(Catherine Pooler Designs).

PAPER: White cardstock - Neenah Solar white 110 lb; Catherine Pooler white for ink blending.

INK: Midnight, Mardi Gras, Samba - Catherine Pooler Inks.

EXTRAS: Elf die cut; Masking paper(Inkadinkadoo); Blender pen - Zig.

CAS Christmas Blessings!

Life - Grand Adventure

Happy Saturday!

I'm sharing a special post today.  Today is our youngest son's 25th Birthday and so I am sharing the card I made for him.    He has fallen in love with all things nature and outdoors -- camping, hiking, the beach.  So much that last summer he moved clear across the country from North Carolina to California.  Since then he has worked hard and played hard, just like you should, soaking up as much everyday and every week that he possibly can.  I've grown to expect my phone to be flooded with beautiful and fun photos from him of his weekend adventures and exploration.  So I had to make him a "camping in the desert" card, it was only fitting.  

 

🎉Happy 25th Birthday, Ben! 🎈

I created my background by masking off sections and ink blending.  I did the ground first, using a smallish blending brush to lightly dust the area and then create some wisps of darker "sand".  For the sky, I masked off the sand area and using blending brushes, blended Tiara, Samba, Rocket Red, Grape Crush and Suede Shoes inks by Catherine Pooler.  Next I stamped the mountains using the Layered Landscape stamp set by Neat & Tangled, stamping them in CP inks Twilight and Black Jack.  I stamped the tent, fire (Technique Tuesday) and cacti (My Favorite Things)on CP white cardstock and colored them with Copics before fussy cutting them and creating my camping scene.  I finished it off by stamping the sentiment (Technique Tuesday) with Versamark and embossing with Tonic Nuvo silver emboss powder.

Birthday Boy Blessings! 

Card Supplies:
STAMPS: Tent, Campfire & Sentiment - Gone Camping (Technique Tuesday); Cacti - Sweet Succulents (My Favorite Things); Mountains - Layered Landscape (Neat&Tangled).
PAPER: White cardbase - Neenah 110 lb Solar white; Catherine Pooler Premium White cardstock.
INK:Sand Castle, Samba, Rocket Red, Tiara, Suede Shoes, Grape Crush, Twilight, Black Jack, Midnight - Catherine Pooler Inks; Versamark; Copics.
EXTRAS: Nuvo silver embossing powder; Blender brushes (Picket Fence);

Krafty Chicks Challenge #450 Birds

Hello Everyone!

It's Thursday so you know that means a new challenge over at 

Krafty Chicks Challenge!

Lori is our hostess this week and she is looking for birds for our twist.

Krafty Chicks Challenge #450 Birds

I went tropical for my birds.  I used a couple stamp sets from Catherine Pooler Designs.  The  flamingos are from Stand Tall, part of "Tropically Yours" as are the leaves from Leave me in Paradise.  The cover plate is called "To The Point.  The sentiment is from the set, Happy Together from "Adoring You".  I used Catherine Pooler Inks as well --  It's a Girl, Coral Cabana, Mint To Be, Garden Party.  The flamingos were stamped in Versamark on watercolor paper, embossed with WOW Superfine Gold and then watercolored with CP inks.  The background was sponged with Its' A Girl and Coral Cabana.  The sentiment was also stamped and embossed with WOW superfine embossing powder.  I finished off the card with some gold glitter enamel dots and gold heart.

Please stop by the Hen House and check out the rest of the Design Team's feathery friends, as well as that of our April Guest Designer, Bonnie Klass, and leave them all some blog love.  Then play along with our bird twist or our anything goes challenge.  

Krafty Chick Blessings!

A Pineapple, Flowers and Birds!

Good Evening!

It's been a while since I posted other than my team posts.  The Hubs is away in California visiting our youngest son, Ben, so I've had a little staycation of my own.  I've finally gotten more time to just play around in my craft room.  I also spent a day with my friend, Bonnie Klass, who showed me a "new to me" technique that is just so cool!  I came home and the next day I made oodles of backgrounds with it!  The technique is a baby wipe technique using photo paper, distress oxide inks and baby wipes and of course stamps.  Check these out...

I'm in love with this first one with the pineapple...

Crafty Blessings!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #449 Photo Inspiration

Happy Thursday!

Hope your first week in April is going well.

It's time for a new challenge 

at 

Krafty Chicks Challenge.

Tangii is our hostess this week and she has chosen a beautiful photo for our Twist!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #449 - 

Photo Inspiration

We also have a new Guest Designer for the month --- 

Bonnie Klass of Stamping with Klass.

BOnnie is a very talented cardmaker and happens to live in the same town as me, Cary, NC, even though we first met online when I ordered Stampin' Up supplies from her.  Now, we get together as often as we can to stamp together, try new crafty techniques, eat and gab!  She also has a monthly card class at her home that I attend as often as I can. 

Welcome Bonnie!

Now onto my card ---

I did double duty for this card.  I created it for this challenge and also sent it to my March Pen Pal over at Stamp Nation.  I had been playing around with some coated cardstock and Catherine Pooler re-inkers and baby wipes.  This particular background kind of reminded me of a Monet painting so I decided to use it for my background for this card.  I kept the rest of the card white so the background would stand out.  I used flower dies by Poppy Stamps as well as the scalloped frame.  The "awesome" die is by Catherine Pooler and I piled three of them together then versamarked the top layer to emboss it with Hero Arts pearl powder and then with glitter.

Now stop by the Hen House and see all the other beautiful projects from my fellow Chick Teammates as well as Bonnie's and leave them all some blog love.  And come play along with us and give our photo inspiration twist a try!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Krafty Chick Blessings!

CAS Christmas Challenge - Elf

Good Afternoon!

Today is time for a new monthly challenge at CAS Christmas Card Challenge!

I'm your hostess this month 

and

since Elf is my favorite Christmas movie I chose the theme of Elf/Elves.

I have a couple sets of elf stamps that I had not ever broke out and used. So today I'm sharing the first one ---is the set, Elf'd by Ellen Hutson.  I also the globe from Believe In Magic  by Mama Elephant.  I used a Versamark pen and went around the outer edge of the globe and then embossed it with Wonderlust by Wow.  I decided not to put a cover on the globe just to keep the card more simple.

Stop by the CAS Christmas Blog to see some fabulous Elf inspiration from the the rest of the CAS Christmas Design Team and our Guest Designer for April, Joann.  Then, why not join us and get some CAS Christmas cards made early for your stash.

Card Supplies:
STAMPS: Elf'd -Ellen Hutson; Believe In Magic - Mama Elephant.
PAPER: White cardstock - Neenah 110 lb Solar Crest.
INK: Midnight, Be Mine - Catherine Pooler Inks; Copics; Versamark pen.
EXTRAS: Elf die - Ellen Hutson; Globe die - Mama Elephant; Heat & Stick - Stampin' Up; Wonderlust glitter - WOW; Stitched rectangle/postage stamp die - Catherine Pooler Designs.

CAS Christmas Blessings!

Be Fearless!

Hello again.  I'm sharing a card I made a few weeks ago.  I made this for my DIL who recently took her comp exams for her Master's degree and passed with flying colors!  She has a few more weeks of classes and then officially graduates in May.  We will be flying to OK for her graduation in May.  

I used the Marble Swirl stamp set by Catherine Pooler Designs stamped in Samba, Tiki Torch and Orange Twist.  I also used a sentiment from the Fearless Pursuit stamp set, part of the Tropically Yours Collection.  I made it larger than a card and framed it so she could set it on her desk or hang it on the wall.  So the "super troll" sits on my stamp shelf, a trinket from the hub's childhood, so it's a classic just like him!  😉LOL

Fearless Blessings!

Krafty Chicks Challenge #448 Coffee, Tea or Cocoa

Happy Thursday!

It's time for a new challenge over at 

Krafty Chicks Challenge!

Amy is our hostess and she's looking for hot beverages.

Krafty Chicks Challenge #448 - Coffee, Tea or Cocoa

It's the last challenge for March and so the last challenge Danielle, our March Guest Designer will be with us.  Please be sure and visit her blog and help us thank her for adding such wonderful inspiration to our challenges this month!

Now here is my coffee card ---

I used four different stamp sets by Catherine Pooler for my card today.  The coffee cup is from the "Put a Pin It"set, which is part of the Canvo Collection.  I stamped them onto the shelf stamp from the "Book and Film" set, also a Canvo Collection stamp set.  I first masked off the other elements that are actually on the shelf stamp to stamp just the shelf.  Then I masked off some of the stamp again except for the flower vase and stamped it on.  Then, I took the coffee cup stamp and stamped it five times along the shelf.  Next I stamped the wreath from the Sweet Home Wreath stamp set. The leaves and coffee beans are from the "Perfect Blend" stamp and die sets.  I colored the cups, vase, flowers and shelf with a blender pen and Catherine Pooler inks.  

Now go stop by the Hen House and check out all the rest of the team's wonderful beverage projects!  Then come play along with us and show us your favorite beverage project of coffee, tea or cocoa!

Krafty Chick Blessings!

Keeping Christmas - March 2019

Good Morning!

There is just one week of March left.  It looks like it is going to go out like a lion instead of a lamb. It's been very breezy here in NC the last few days, and the forecast for the last days is rain.  So it seems like it is going to go roaring out. At least it's been warming up and things are beginning to bud and bloom. Spring is here.

Ok, so you're probably confused with me talking about spring when the post says "Keeping Christmas".  Well, it is March 25th and while spring may be in the air, the monthly Keeping Christmas Inspiration Blog Hop is always on the 25th of each month. It is designed to give you some holiday inspiration throughout the year to help spur on some Christmas mojo and help you build your Christmas card stash.

I have to admit I woke up last Monday in a panic thinking it was the 25th and my project wasn't finished.  The past two weeks my crafty time and creative mojo has taken a hit due to some major plumbing issues we are having.  It is now going on the third week and we still don't know how extensive the problem is, what the actual cost will be or how long the repairs will take.  We've had to fire one plumber and hire a new one so we are hoping things will move along a little quicker now.  It does make me want to just close myself up in my craft room and not "adult" much right now.  Particularly since I've also been ill several times in the last month.  Why do things always seem to come in bunches, at least the not so good things? 

Anyway, I got it done and here it is ---- 

I decided to look through my current stash of Christmas backgrounds, die cuts and other unfinished pieces that were waiting to be made into cards.  We all have supplies like that, that we made for one thing and then it didn't work out or maybe ran out of time to finish others.  Whatever the case, I think sometimes just pulling out some previously created backgrounds, die cuts or stamped images and pulling them together can help get the flow going again.  That's what I did here.  I had the background image and sentiment already stamped from when I created a bunch of backgrounds with the similar stamp set in January.  So I decided to keep everything monochromatic by swiping the front of a cardbase with the same ink color as my background image and sentiment, It's A Boy, by Catherine Pooler.  I had the stitched label die already cut as well and swiped it with the same ink.  After gluing everything together, I added the blue heart enamel dots and clear gems to finish it off.  Probably the quickest card I've pulled together.  This would definitely be an easy card to mass produce in different monochrome colors from scratch as well, using a Misti to line up the stamps for the background and just switch out the cardstock and ink color.  

Now, hop along the Design Team below and see what everyone has created.  There is always a plethora of different projects to fit just about anyone's style, from shabby chic, graphic to clean and simple.  Take any or all of it to inspire you in your Christmas card creating.

Kelly Lunceford

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggin

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld (You are HERE)

Nina Forsyth

Vicki Finger

Nancy Guse

Keeping Christmas Blessings!