Snowman Friday

I find myself rushing to get posts up as Christmas quickly draws near and time is of the essence.  I have zero... ZERO snowman stamps, so I had to do a punch snowman.  I cannot believe I have no snowman stamps.  That will have to be rectified when I make my annual Christmas card order next year.  At any rate, I love this week's Friday Mashup.  Awesome colors, and snowmen!  How could you go wrong?

And here's what I did to make the mash:

I've definitely seen this punch snowman with arms, but I couldn't get them to look right.  I may continue to try, but I had to post before the linky closed!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!  I appreciate each and every comment I get!

 

Freshly Made Glimmer

Not much time to post today, it's past my bedtime, but I wanted to get this up in time to enter!  This is a small 4.25 x 4.25 square.  The darker glimmer paper is just silver with some Wild Wasabi ink.  I got the sketch at the wonderful Freshly Made Sketches sketch challenge.

The birthday girl who received this is also a stamper and loves bling, pink and green.  So I did my best!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

First Time Creating with Connie and Mary

Really, it's just the first time I finished on time!  I used the great sketch this week at Create with Connie and Mary Challenge.

I skipped the greeting, but other than that I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  Also, I used a hobby blade to cut out the cross shape out of a single sheet of paper, but I'm going to nix that idea for the duplicates I make for my Christmas card stash.  Too fussy!  :-)

And just because I hate having cards that aren't posted to my blog (now that I have one that is all of a few months old!), a card from an old Connie and Mary sketch challenge that wasn't done in time to enter:

Funny thing, when I was making this second one, I was pulling the sketch from memory, and it didn't have the ribbon, and I thought, you know what this needs?  A banner here.  Then I saw the sketch again, and sure enough, there was a banner there!  I guess those gals Connie and Mary know what they're doing!  :-)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Freshly Made Birthday

I had to take a break from Christmas cards because I have a lot of December birthdays, too (mine included... although I don't make myself a birthday card)!

Knowing I needed a birthday card, I immediately pictured three little gifts in Freshly Made Sketch lucky #13.

I wanted to find a color challenge to pair it with, but I didn't find any that I liked for the friend I was making this for, so I just went with my own colors.  

This card is pretty simple, but oh so cute!  Check out what I did on the inside for some nice symmetry:

Thanks for checking out my blog today!

Triple Threat

Today I managed a theme challenge, a color challenge, and a sketch challenge all in a fairly simple card.  I used the winter theme at Friday Mashup (sadly, I do not own any shaker frames), the color scheme at Colour Q, and the simple sketch at Stamping 411.

And here's what I did with all of the above:

And for your viewing pleasure, another card I put together today that didn't use any challenges, so I'm just tacking it onto this post:

I'm loving that snow burst folder, and I've been itching to take the elf shoes out for a spin.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Friday, Saturday - Mash that Sketch

Today I added to my Christmas card supply (which needs a LOT of help... did you know December starts on THURSDAY?! EEK!) thanks to a great Friday Mashup, which I further mashed with the Saturday Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411.

There is something about the Mashup that brings out the best in me.  This is only the second time I've participated, and the two cards rank among my recent favorites.  I chose Early Espresso and Pool Party for my chocolate and teal...

I think I need to splurge on a light tent because it looks much cooler in person, but hopefully you get the idea.  :-)  I rubbed whisper white craft ink on the snowflakes after I embossed them, and the baker's twine coming over the ribbon happened because I put the ribbon on wrong, but I think it's a happy accident.  Otherwise you could hardly see the twine.

I hope you enjoyed the card half as much as I did... thanks for checking out my blog today!

Supplies Used

Card Stock:  Pool Party, Early Espresso

Ink:  Whisper White Craft, Versamark

Stamp sets:  

Other:  Big Shot, Snow Burst Embossing Folder, Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, dimensionals, white embossing powder

Thank You #3

Here's the third in my series of 2 challenge thank you cards.  Alas, I had this card done days ago, but I didn't post it soon enough to actually enter it in one of the challenges.  I used the colors in Colour Q Challenge #112, and the sketch from Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge #14.  

So far, this is my favorite card in my mini-series.  They are all for co-workers that kindly lent me baby stuff when my sister was visiting with her 18 month old.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Supplies Used
Card Stock:  Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Beyond the Garden DSP
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie
Stamp Sets:  Day of Gratitude
Other:  Big Shot, Stripes EF, Houndstooth EF, Fun Flowers Die, Pumpkin Pie Glimmer Brad, Itty Bitty Punch Pack

Thank You #2

This is the second in a series of 2-challenge thank you cards.  Today's uses my favorite sketch challenge, Freshly Made Sketches, and it's also the first time I've played along at the Color Throwdown.  

I was excited to bust out some Taken with Teal.  I don't have many retired colors, and that is one of the few in my stash.  This card is completely and totally not my usual style, but I kind of like it.  I had the thank you banner done, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to do with "any shape" focal point.  I didn't think I had a stamp set that coordinated with my thank you banner, and I just used my Fun Flowers die on another one of my 4 thank you's, so I wanted to go another route.  I thought I might be able to make a flower out of ribbon, but I'm not that great with ribbon.  Then I thought there might be another way to make a flower ribbon.  So I started cutting strips, and voila! 

Also... who knew I had quite that many thank you stamps?!  There are some I used that you can't even see after I ran it through the Big Shot.  I love how the Tasteful Trims shape echoes the pattern in the DSP.  It all turned out somewhat retro in the end. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Supplies Used

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Sweet Pea DSP

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Taken with Teal, Real Red

Stamp Sets:  Yeah, not going to list them this time!  I think there were at least 10...

Other:  Real Red Glimmer Brad, Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Tasteful Trims XL die, Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Read Red Satin Ribbon, Baja Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

Thank You #1

I'm going to be posting a few thank you cards over the next few days.  The goal was to use two challenges for each one.  This first one uses Sketch Challenge #230 over at Stamping 411 as well as this week's color/CAS challenge at the Paper Players.

Let me tell you, it was a challenge to make a thank you card in such obvious holiday card colors (although I cheated a bit using gray instead of silver!).  I think I succeeded, but I'm not sure this ranks up with my favorite cards.  Without further ado...

Thanks for checking out my blog today!

Supplies Used

Card Stock:  Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Ink:  Night of Navy, VersaMark

Stamp Sets:  Elegant Thank You

Other:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper EF, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch, Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Silver Twine, sponge, dimensionals

Cute as a Punch Santa

I wish I could take credit for thinking up the idea behind this punch Santa, but I'm just not that creative.  The first time I saw it was on this card quite some time ago.  I've been wanting to use it, and when I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketch, I thought he would work perfectly.

Other than the glitter and figuring out how to assemble Santa's face, this card came together very quickly.  My sister is visiting, and I have a bunch of Christmas cards out in my stamp/guest room, and she declared this one her favorite.  I hope you like it, too!

And Santa a little closer:

Thanks for checking out my blog today!

Supplies Used

Card stock:  Garden Green, Whisper White, Read Red, Blushing Bride, Candy Cane Christmas SDSP

Ink:  Real Red

Stamp Sets:  Petite Pairs

Other:  Wide Oval Punch, Small Oval Punch (retired), Bird Punch, Ornament Punch, 1" circle punch, glue, Dazzling Diamonds, dimensionals

 

Freshly Made Color Inspiration

Today's card combines this week's Freshly Made Sketch, with Stamping 411's Color Inspiration.

Although I rarely use Riding Hood Red, I thought that a Christmas card using Lucky Limeade would be a little different.  Not a traditional Christmas Green.  So I was excited to give it a try.

Here's what I came up with:

I made the Top Note cover the entire card front by cutting it where the horizontal stripe went and spreading it out a bit.  I think it worked.  A good eye can tell that the shape looks a little wonky, but I would do it again.  Those cute little wreaths on the side were made with one of the small Itty Bitty Punch shapes for the center, and the medium flower on the Boho Blossoms punch for the outside.  Some colored Basic Rhinestones, and Early Espresso Baker's Twine, and poof! perfect little wreaths.  It was a bit labor intensive to make too many of them for my Christmas card stash, but I like it enough that I'll make at least a few more!

 Supplies Used

Card Stock:  Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Cheerful Treat DSP (Hostess)
Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Riding Hood Red
Stamp Sets:  Northern Hearts (Ret. Hostess), Four the Holidays
Other:  Red Sharpie, Basic Rhinestones, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Itty Bitty Punch Shapes, Boho Blossoms punch, Big Shot, Top Note

Ornaments, Stripes & Glitter

It's a week to try new challenges, and today I played along at Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge.  I knew I could make a super quick and easy Christmas card with that sketch.  I'm not 100% sure I love the results, but it's cute.  I elongated the sketch just because that was the direction my scrap of DSP was facing!  :-)

I have ornament DSP, an ornament accent, stripes embossed in my DSP, stripes on the ornament, and two sources of glitter:

And a close-up of the shine:

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Supplies Used

Card Stock:  Real Red, Baja Breeze, Candy Cane Christmas SDSP, Silver Glimmer

Stamps:  None!

Ink:  None!

Other:  Big Shot, Stripes EF, Real Red satin ribbon, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, dimensionals