Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Merry Christmas!

What's that you say? It's Halloween???? Well, not in this house and hasn't been since the late 80's. We had a traumatic experience back in the day. However, I do like to make non-scary cards for the people in our life who do celebrate. So, because I've already done that and mailed the cards, it's Christmas again in our house...we do love Christmas!

Here's another card we made at Sue's last Thursday. I didn't have to do anything except glue everything together!


Thanks for stopping by today and do be sure to return tomorrow for our Thursday blog hop with many talented ladies' cards displayed.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Stampin' Up! I Wish!

My card today was one we made last Thursday at Sue L.'s for our card group. After a delicious lunch, we settled down to make 4 cards.

I'm entering this one in the challenge at Jingle Belles - Not A Creature Was Stirring. I do hope they consider this bird a creature! 


The front is a piece of Graphic 45 that my friend, Carole, gave me. I miss her at the card group but she is going through a rough spot in her life right now....I know what that's like!

The inside is all die cut and I have no idea what dies they were because Sue spoiled us and had everything cut already! I don't know what I'd do without this group! Do you have anyone like these gals in your life? Should I write something on the front?


Thank you so much for stopping by. You have no idea how much your visits and comments mean to me.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing and the creek don't rise :-)








Monday, October 29, 2018

Stampin' Up! WWYS #192 Seasonal Chums


What an honor to be asked by WWYS to be their guest designer using this set for this week's challenge. 

Do you have this stamp set and dies? If not, you need to get them! The snowman, pumpkin and deer  just have the cutest faces, don't they? Cute enough to put on my projects ...



What do you think? Want to make them? Here's how...

Cut a piece of solid card stock 4" x 11"
Using a 12" x 12" score board, score on long side at: 3 1/2", 5 1/4", 8 3/4", 10 1/2"
Make a light pencil mark at 4 3/8" and 9 5/8"
Turn card stock to the left so the short side is now up at the top of your score board
Score at 2 3/4" all the way down
Take a ruler and score a line from the pencil mark to the 2 3/4" score on each corner of the quadrant that mark is in; do the same thing for the other pencil mark
Burnish all score lines. The lines you scored using the ruler just kind of gently fold in when you glue the box
Cut away the skinny section at the bottom of the 10 1/2" score.
Cut up to the 2 3/4" score line at the other three scores on the bottom
Fold all the score lines in to form the triangular base and glue with Tear and Tape

For the outside of the box:

Cut a piece of DSP 8" x 3 1/2"
Gently fold it around the pinched box starting at one half of the bottom. Press the DSP to fit the shape of the box, but not too tight. Then glue the bottom of the DSP together...but not to the bottom of the box! It needs to slide easily in and out.

Stamp and color your deer, snowman and pumpkin, cut out with the dies and adhere to the top of your finished treat box. Pretty neat, huh? Well, we can thank Pootles for that idea! Here's a pic of the back side and side view.



Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will visit WWYS to play along with them for this challenge. Then we can become Seasonal Chums! Have a blessed day. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them. Just leave me a comment.



Sunday, October 28, 2018

Stampin' Up! Merry Merlot and Copper Foil

Because the temperature is getting down into the mid 80's, I thought it appropriate to make an autumnal card. I love that word and the image it conjures. What do you think?


I think it fits the bill at Dragonfly Dreams and Fusion - Fall Porch and Addicted to Stamps Challenge 167 - Autumn Colors
My card base is Merry Merlot, the mat is Copper Foil, the DSP is unknown. I created the leaves on top of the DSP with a layering stencil from Tim Holtz, using Sahara Gold Glitter Kiss. The sentiment is from the retired Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped in Versa Mark and heat embossed with Copper Emboss powder. I used the Layering Ovals Framelits to cut the Copper Foil mat and Whisper White sentiment oval.

I am going to try to keep posting on a regular basis but just in case I don't, I want you to know why. The good news is my husband no longer has to go to the cancer center or anymore doctors. The bad news is he has been accepted for in-house Hospice Comfort Care. Our son lives with us so the two of us will continue to care for Perry as long as we can. He has been fighting this battle due to Agent Orange for 5 years...2 years beyond what the doctors anticipated. I want to thank all of you who have said you have been praying for us and for keeping us in your thoughts.

See you tomorrow!

Partial Product List:

Heat Tool
[129053]
$30.00

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Stampin' Up! Timeless Tidings, Winter Woods and Wishing You Well Retiform

Salutations on this Saturday to all my peeps. I am thrilled to be the guest designer today at Christmas Card Throwdown and also thrilled that you stopped by.


Masking is one of my favorite techniques because it is always how I do my retiform cards. Take a look see...




My card base is Merry Merlot and I did my masking on a piece of Whisper White. I used Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green for my inks.

How did I create this? I'm so glad you asked! I laid my stamps, from Timeless Tidings and Wishing You Well, where I wanted them on my Whisper White mat. Then I took a ruler and pencil and drew the lines where each would be separated from the other. Remove the stamps, but remember where you will be placing them! 

I took large sticky notes, working on one section at a time, and laid the sticky edges where the pencil lines were. For example, where the wreath is, I placed one sticky note across the bottom of the section and one on the right edge of that section. I sponged the section more heavily along the edges and lighter towards the center using Cherry Cobbler. Be careful if you reuse that same sticky note with the next color as it can transfer. Ask me how I know! You just keep repeating that same process with each section, then you stamp your images. I try to use no more than two or three colors for sponging and stamping but you can do whatever you want...it will be your card after all! 

Between the wreath, tree and holly images, I left a little space so you could visualize what it looked like not having the mask right on the line. I kind of liked that look so I am leaving it that way.

I added pearls, red rhinestones and a gold star for embellishments.

The inside of my card is very simple...


I thought the sentiment was appropriate for the corners on the front. It came from Timeless Tidings and is stamped full strength in Garden Green. I stamped the tree from Winter Woods by stamping off three times.

Here are pics of other cards I created using this technique. 

     


If you have any questions, please give me a holler. I hope you will also visit the talented Design Team at  52 Christmas Card Throwdown. It's a wonderful place to play AND you need to get working on your Christmas cards if you haven't already!

See you real soon!

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Stampin' Up! Spooky Sweets Meet Still Night for the Thursday Happy Inkin' Krew Hop


Howdy and welcome back for another hop. It's Thursday again...how does that happen so quickly?   This week's challenge is a sketch and here it is...


Image may contain: text

I used two stamp sets, two die sets and a punch to create my card for today.




It's a shaker card (see the silver glimmer paper stars in the window?) I used Spooky Sweets on the Mango Melody card stock to make my background of bats and splotches. The sentiment is from that set and is stamped in Mango Melody. I love that SU's ink, match the paper perfectly. I used the Layering Circles dies to create the window opening.


The stars were punched from the Twinkle Builder Punch. I didn't put too many in as the last shaker card I made, they all got stuck together because of the static.

For the inside...

I stamped the owl from Still Night in Tuxedo Black Memento ink. I colored him with my Blends and set him upon an Early Espresso branch die cut from the matching Night Owl Thinlits Dies. If you purchase them as a bundle, you save 10%. I added the moon sliver just for a little bling for my penpal who loves owls. I will write her a note so there is no sentiment.

If you have any questions on how this was made, I will be happy to answer them when you leave a comment.

Thank you for stopping by and remember to click on the "next" button to hop directly to Julie Johnston, who also loves owls!
h
Clicking on any name will take you directly to that member's blog.

Karen Finkle - you are here!



Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Stampin' Up! My Partner in Crafting

Today was a day I will tell you about another time...just suffice it to say it was quite stressful. I did have to work on projects for a challenge site where I have been invited to be the guest designer. I still need to finish that by tomorrow.

I wanted to share a pic of my helper, Tini (short for Martini). However, she was a slacker and had no desire to walk all over my work area and chew on twine. She is a sweet girl but is also obsessed with eating succulents, cacti and dracaena. We hope none of these are poisonous. We KNOW what Aloe does to her! But she is so forgivable! She IS a Hemingway Tuxedo after all :-)


Thank you for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for our Thursday Inkin' Krew blog hop. You won't be wasting your time!

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Stampin' Up! First Frost and Frosted Bouquet

Yesterday was filled with doctor visits again so if you came by, I'm sorry there was no card for you to view. Today was different...the Home Health Nurse came to us! I was checking the challenges for today and found one at Stamp, Ink, Paper...Plaid! Oh, I do love plaids! 
I then caught Linda Cullen and Tami White live on Facebook and fell in love with the card design and products Linda used. However, she didn't use plaid...but I did!


Measurements and products used are listed below.

Recipe for card front:

  • Adhere strip of dotted DSP to top of card front
  • Adhere strip of Shaded Spruce to back of plaid DSP so there is only a sliver showing
  • Adhere that to card front
  • Adhere strip of sequin ribbon, as close as you can get, to the Shaded Spruce sliver
  • Die cut the leaves from Joyous Noel Glimmer paper using the Shaded Spruce color
  • Die cut the sprigs from Gold Foil
  • Glue the leaves and sprigs together at the bottom
  • Stamp the sentiment on a scrap of Whisper White
  • Die cut the sentiment but not using the whole die
  • Adhere it to the leaves/sprigs
  • Put dimensionals on the back of sentiment/leaves 
  • Adhere to bottom of card front
  • Place tree embellishment on sentiment

For the inside, I kept it very simple. I had cut the Merry Christmas sentiment from Timeless Tidings in half while we were in NY this summer so I decided I'd use the colors I used on the front...Shaded Spruce, Real Red and Gold.



Thank you for stopping by and I should have another card for tomorrow as there are NO doctor visits nor home visits. Woo hoo! That is VERY exciting for us.

Measurements:
Whisper White Thick Card Stock: 4 1/4" x 11", scored and folded at 5 1/2"
Under the Mistletoe Plaid DSP: 4 1/4" x 1 3/4"
Under the Mistletoe Dots DSP: 4 1/4" x 4"
Shaded Spruce Card Stock:  4 1/4" x 1/2"
Joyous Noel Glimmer Paper scraps 
Gold Foil scrap
Whisper White scrap for sentiment
Gold Mini Sequin Trim - 4 1/4"

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps Timeless Tidings, First Frost
Card stock & Papers     Under The Mistletoe DSP, Thick Whisper White, Joyous Noel Glimmer Paper, Shaded Spruce Card Stock, Gold Foil, Whisper White
 Ink Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Color Box Gold
Accessories Frosted Bouquet Framelits Dies, Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes, Gold Mini Sequin Trim, Dimensionals
Tools     Big Shot, Stampin' Trimmer

If you are interested in purchasing any of the SU supplies, they are all current and you can find them by clicking on the "Shop In My Online Store" tab.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Stampin' Up! Hand Delivered Meets Playful Background

Today's stamp set is a host stamp set, which means you have to host a party and have a $150 total...or you can be a demonstrator and have a $150 order. I did neither...it was a kit prepared by Meg for our card group. I believe it's a CASE of Sissy Hooper.

Here you go...



I added some circles from the Playful Backgrounds stamp set.

JUGS #463 is my playground today.

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps Playful Backgounds, Hand Delivered
Card stock & Papers     Share What You Love, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White
 Ink Tranquil Tide, various Blends
Accessories Liquid glue
Tools     Stampin' Trimmer

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Stampin' Up! Wishing You Well

If you have been following me, you know this is one of my favorite stamp sets from the 2018 Holiday Catalog. Meg had a kit prepared for us Thursday using this set and I messed mine up so I had to remake it but I did it a little differently. It's a case of Karen Farquhar. Here's her card and here's mine...




I am playing today at As You See It Challenge


  

I need to say get well to my 85 year-old friend, Carole, who has just come home from the hospital.

My card base is Whisper White, a mat of Blackberry Bliss with a mat of Pink Pirouette, strip of DSP from Share What You Love and a Whisper White art panel. I stamped the wreath in Garden Green, the bow in Blackberry Bliss (fussy cut) and the sentiment in Blackberry Bliss.

For the inside, I did a mat of Blackberry Bliss and stamped the sentiment in Garden Green (from Barn Door stamp set) on a piece of Pink Pirouette.


Thank you for stopping by and if you have any questions, let me know.

Measurements:

Card Base: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Blackberry Bliss Mat: 4" x 5 1/4" (2)
Pink Pirouette Mat: 3 1/2" x 5" (2)
DSP mat: 2 3/4" x 5"
Whisper White Art Panel: 2 1/2" x 5"
Scrap Whisper White for bow

Partial List of Products Used:

Friday, October 19, 2018

Stampin' Up! Tent Treat Box Meets Nature's Poem

Yesterday was our Thursday card group get together at Meg's. She helped us make this box, which was CASE'd from Pootles, a/k/a Sam Hammond Donald. She has a video here, which will help you make one so I won't reinvent the wheel...I mean tent! 

Here's mine and, trust me, I will be making more!


My photos show various stages of opening! The first time making it is rather daunting, but once you watch the video and follow Pootles, it is a piece of cake...I mean candy! Yumm, dark chocolate candies for the challenge at Cute Card Thursday #552

If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see you tomorrow.



Stampin' Up! Painted Lavender Friendship Card for the Happy Inkin' Thursday Blog Hop

Thank you for stopping here from wherever you came! We have a sketch challenge today and here is what I created for our hop... I took a litt...