Skating fun

Time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and it's another ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS!  I used this adorable image by Candibean named Let's Try Again. It's such a cute image and I couldn't resist using it as the temperatures are rising here, already hitting over 100 °F. I'm making Christmas cards to feel cool. Ahem...it's not working.

This will be my last card posted as a member of the wonderful team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'. I joined the team when it began in January 2013, and have loved every single monthly challenge. But, my work schedule has changed and I'm finding my craft time more limited so I've stepped down. I will miss this team so much and the inspiration they gave me each month.

Here's a picture of this cute image up-close and personal!
 

The team has made some wonderful card to help inspire you to start your Christmas cards now, before the season sneaks up on you! I hope you'll join us for our monthly ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.


                                                                                        Thanks for stopping by!

                                                                      Gail

Christmas in April

It's the second Wednesday of the month, so that's means there's a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'!  And remember, this year we are ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS each and every monthly challenge. I used this very cute stamp by Bildmalarna for my card. I'm not much of a project maker but I do love making cards and I love making square cards. For one thing, I love 6x6 paper pads so square cards just make sense to me!

I colored her with Copics,and here's a close-up of this adorable image! I've notice that lots of the stamps I love are now gone and the companies have closed. What a sad day it was when this store closed down!

And here's my pretty red polka-dot grossgrain bow with a button glued in the middle which I made using my bow tool.



The team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' has created some fabulous cards to inspire you to join us and by doing so, you'll be one more card ahead for Christmas which is only 256 days away. (Yes, I calculated that with a calendar.)  Hope you'll join us this month!


                                                                                       Thanks for stopping by!
                                                                 Gail
This card is entered in the following challenges:
Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Challenge 328, AG Christmas

The Ribbon Girl April, AG/ribbon

Artistic Inspirations Challenge 176, AG

Always Fun Challenge 1, AG

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge 1715, AG

Crafting From The Heart Challenge 154, AG

A Snowflakes Promise Challenge 38, AG

Crafty Sentiments Challenge Flowers

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge 55, AG

As You Like It Challenge 4/6, Favorite Card Shaped Base and Why

Fussy and Fancy Challenge 184, Embellish it

Reasonable Ribbon Challenge 161, Flowers

Christmas Card Challenges Challenge 10, AG

Simply Papercraft Challenge 45, AG

Creative Fingers Challenge 127, AG

Pearly Sparkles Challenge 15, AG w/pearls

Classic Design Team Challenge Challenge 13, AG

Digistamps 4 Joy Challenge 135, AG

Christmas Cards All Year Round Challenge April, Flowers

Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra Challenge April AG w/Christmas

The Paper Nest Dolls Challenge 4, AG

Crafty Girls Creations Challenge 35, AG

Crafty Awesomeness Challenge April, AG

Delicious Doodles Challenge April, Ribbons and Flowers

Lemon Shortbread Challenge 39, AG

Love to Craft Challenge 9, AG
The Crafty Addicts Challenge 35, Add a Sentiment

Crafting With An Attitude Challenge 26, AG
Crafty Creations Challenge 339, AG
Scrapper's Delights Challenge 65, AG

Always Christmas!

It's the second Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  The challenge again this month is ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS. I used this older rubber stamp by Bildmalarna for my card. I am a die hard rubber stamper and have hundreds of stamps which some have never been inked!  My goal is to make a card with each of them in my lifetime. At the rate I'm going, I'll be around until I'm just over 150 years old.

I colored her with Copics and used a Martha Stewart border punch and I added some pretty red metallic dots on the green lace. The pretty oval die cut around my image is by Joy Crafts with some gold glitter added to the embossed areas.  My sentiment is by Stampin' Up. I love this shabby white embossing powder by Stampendous.

The team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have made some beautiful projects to inspire you to join us. And, since it is already March, joining this challenge will give you a head start on those Christmas cards you're going to need in 9 months!

                                                                                      Gail
This card is entered in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz Challenge 360, Doilies
Season’s Greetings Challenge 2, AG
A Snowflakes Promise Challenge 37, AG
Crafty Sentiments Challenge 3/7, AG
CCC Digi Creations Challenge 78, Ribbon or Lace
Creatalicious Challenge Challenge 110, AG or Green
Jingle Belles Challenge Holly and Ivy
Crafting with Friends Challenge 38, AG
The Ribbon Girl Challenge March, AG w/Ribbon
Winter Wonderland Challenge Use Ribbon or Lace
Artistic Inspirations Challenge 174, AG
Lemon Shortbread Challenge 36 AG
Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge 53, AG
Crafting By Designs Challenge March, AG, 3E
Penny Black and More Challenge March, AG
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge March, AG
One Crazy Stamper Challenge March, AG w/no digis
Jo's Scrap Shack Challenge 178, AG
Love To Scrap Challenge 95, AG
Crafting With An Attitude Challenge 25, AG
Dare 2 B Artzy Challenge March, Lots of Layers

My favorite winter sport

It's the second Wednesday of the month, and time for Christmas at Sweet Stampin' to start a new challenge. Our challenge is ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS.  I used this fabulous image from Stamping Bella for my card. I loved skating as a younger person and love watching it on tv now! No wonder I'm drawn to ice skating images!!

I colored her with Copics and the die of the pine boughs is by Memory Box and the trees on the side are by Joy.  The frame around my image is a nesting set by Susan Wilson. I used white paint and clear embossing powder on my pine boughs border across the top. I splurged and use some coveted white glitter paper and dark aqua glitter paper for my pine trees on the side of my image. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

If the ice looks shiny to you, it's because I put a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents on it. I used my Stampendous Chunky White embossing powder for the snow falling.

The team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have made some outstanding cards to inspire and encourage you to join this challenge of ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS.
                                                                         Gail
I'm entering this card in these challenges:
Creates and Makes Challenge 8
The Crafty Addicts Add a Sentiment

Love To Craft Challenge Blog Challenge 7

Classic Design Team Challenge  Challenge 11

Happy Little Stampers Feb Christmas Challenge
Crafting With Friends  Challenge 36

Christmas cards year round!

We're doing something new at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' for 2017 and each monthly challenge will be ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS. We're hoping it will encourage everyone to make their Christmas cards all year long to avoid the crunch at the end of the year.

I made a card using all diecuts and one stamp (the sentiment). I liked the elegance of this card and the way it is on the flat side for mailing purposes. I'm finding that mailing my 'fancy' cards is just too darn expensive, yet I want to send handmade cards to my friends!

I used metallic silver paper as my bottom layer, metallic gold for the ornament, metallic green for the spray of greenery attached as part of the ornament die and green glitter paper for the evergreen border across the top. I used a pretty white paper with a gold pearlescent finish and stamped my sentiment in black.

The Team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have created some beautiful cards to start off this year and I hope you'll take a look at them and join us this month for our ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS challenge.

                                                                                    Gail

Christmas Carolers

It's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin.  Our challenge for you is INSPIRED BY SONG OR "SINGING" IMAGE.  I used this very cute image by All Dressed Up.

The images are 3 little girls and I chose 2 out of the 3 for my card.

Here's my floral and berry embellishment.

I hope you'll join us for this challenge where the topic is: INSPIRED BY SONG OR 'SINGING' IMAGE. 


Our sponsor this month is All Dressed Up.

Since this is my last post for Christmas at Sweet Stampin' before Christmas, let me with each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


                                                                                                Hugs,

                                                                  Gail

It's almost here...

Christmas is almost here. It's already November and I've got 3 more paychecks before Christmas. Is that how you look at it, too?!  Time flies at this time of year and I often find myself not enjoying the holidays as much because I've waited too long to get certain tasks done and then feeling rushed at the last minute. On that note I hope you've joined us each month and so now you'll have a minimum of 11 Christmas cards done! If you haven't been making cards all year for Christmas, please consider joining us here at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' for our monthly challenge in 2017!! This month our challenge is ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS.


I used an older Magnolia image for my card this month. I had never colored her and had her in my "Magnolia" notebook of stamps. If I remember correctly, my friend Julie in Australia, sent me this stamp years ago as a gift. I have an abundance of stamps that have never been colored up and it's scary to go into the closet and look at the number of notebooks full of stamps. I really need to start making more cards! Notice I'm not saying a word about my library of digitals. Let's focus on coloring rubber stamped images for now.

Here's a close-up of Tilda. I colored her with Copics and used 3-D white paint for the snow. These beautiful papers are from Wild Rose and I loved using the vibrant red and purple. My flowers are from an assortment of places, including Wild Orchid Crafts. I added some 3-D white paint at her feet and sprinkled glitter over it while it was wet.

This month, our sponsor at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is Marianne Designs.

The team has created some adorable cards for our challenge and you can't get an easier topic than ANYTHING GOES WITH CHRISTMAS for this month. I hope you'll join us!


This card is entered in the following challenges:
Mid-Week Magnolias, Chall 151, Winter
Lovely Haenglar or Sweet Magnolia, Chall 140, Snow/Glitter

Glitz and Sparkle

There's a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'. Now, as some know, I like glitter and sparkle and was a crow in a former life. You all know how crows love shiny things, right? Well, put on your sunglasses cause I really loved the challenge this month of GLITZ AND SPARKLE.


I used teal metallic paper, red metallic paper and gold metallic paper along with teal and white glitter papers. I really loved using all this sparkle and glitter. Oh and I used some white chunky embossing powder for snow. My best friend, Lillian, sent me the white and gold glitter deer and I added additional glitter to their antlers. The only thing not glitter on this card is the background paper.


My picture isn't the best showing my image because of all the glitter and sparkle.  Her hair below looks washed out but is actually a nice golden blonde. You can see it better in the picture below this picture.

I used this awesome image from Time 4 Tea and I used Stickles Glitter named "Candy Cane" that has red and gold mixed together for her dress and the solid teal color Stickles glitter for her scarf. I used white flocking for her ear muffs and trim on the bottom of her dress.

I used red glitter embossing powder on my poinsettia leaves and a white brad holds them together and I added some clear glitter to the brad for sparkle. You can't see them in these small pictures, but I used two tree die cuts, one in metallic teal paper and one in fine glitter teal paper.

This is super fine glitter teal paper for my holly die cut that I glued on white paper and then fussy cut around them so that they had a white border like my poinsettia has.  I added pretty red jewels for the berries.

I used white glitter paper for my mittens and a light teal colored glitter button to hold up my mittens.

A gold bow really sets this glitz and sparkle card off! I used my little bow tool by Craft-Dee BowZ to make this bow as the ribbon is actually all glitter and I couldn't tie this without my bow tool!

The team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have made some awesome GLITZ AND SPARKLE Christmas cards for you to enjoy and I hope they inspire you to join us.

                                                                             Gail
I've entered this card in the challenges at:
Vilda Stamps Challenge Blog
Christmas Card Challenges
The Ribbon Girl
Mari Digis
Art by Miran

Crafting From The Heart
Craft Your Passion Challenge
Digi Choosday Craft Challenge
Through The Classroom Door
Happy Little Stampers
Always Playing With Paper

Christmas Die Cuts

I don't know anyone who can't enter this challenge!  Doesn't every card maker have a Christmas/Winter Die Cut?  There are so many out there and I hope you'll join us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' for our challenge of CHRISTMAS/WINTER DIE CUTS. You can use one or more, but it must be one for Christmas or Winter.


I have a ton of embossing folders and rarely use them. This time, though, I had the perfect die cut to accompany an embossed background.

Our sponsor at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is Stix 2.  Take a look at this fabulous store!!

The Team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have created cards to inspire you this month. I hope you'll join us.


                                                                                    Hugs,

                                                       Gail

136 More Days...

What's in 136 more days?  CHRISTMAS! Are you working on your Christmas cards yet? You know how fast the time will go as soon as we get to October, right? This is a great reason to start your cards and join the new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' for our SNOW PEOPLE challenge. To be politically correct, we're calling all snow men and snow ladies, SNOW PEOPLE. I used this super cute snowlady named Bella da Snowlady from Robyn's Fetish for my card.

Snowmen are my favorite winter image and I love them. They're always happy and such fun to color since their clothing can be any colors!  Here's a close-up of this super looking snowman!

Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More is proud to sponsor this challenge. They are a division of I Did It Creations, and was created and is owned by  Robyn Weinrib. Robyn owns a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers, designed to meet the needs of all digital crafting addicts for every occasion.

Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is happy to award 3 digital stamps of the winner's choice to the winner of this challenge!


The team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have created some beautiful cards with the hopes of encouraging you to join our challenge this month. The theme is SNOW PEOPLE, so pull out those snowmen and snowlady images and start your Christmas cards!

Snow, Mittens, Sleds, Ice, Cold...

What do the words cold, snow, ice, warm clothes, wreaths, Santa, pine trees all remind you of? Winter, of course! And this month at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' our challenge is all of these things...it's an ANYTHING GOES WITH WINTER challenge.

This month we're sponsored by Ppinky Dolls Art. If you haven't seen these cute images, please stop by the link and check them out. There are some awesome images that fit our challenge at the Ppinky Dolls Art store! Thank you, Chrishanthi, for sponsoring us this month!

I used this adorable image named Winter Day for my card.

This is my first attempt at my new Pastel Chalk Pencils. They were great to use and although I need to practice more, I think they might become one of my favorite coloring mediums. I used a tree die by Memory Box, a holly border punch by Martha Stewart, the stitched snow on the bottom is a die by Lawn Fawn, the die cut around my image is by Marianne Design and the words "Holiday Cheer" are a die cut by Paper Smooches. I was generous with my Hero Arts Snow glitter and added a touch of clear glitter on their hats and the roof of the house.

Our sponsor, Ppinky Dolls Art, has generously donated 3 digital images, of the winner's choice, to our challenge this month. Click on any of the colored links to go and visit this store of adorable images!                         

The Team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have created some adorable cards with these sweet and cute images this month. I hope you'll go over to the CaSS site and take a look at their projects and will join us this month for our ANYTHING GOES WITH WINTER challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'!
                                                                                             
                                                                                           Hugs,

                                                             Gail



Baby, it's cold outside!

The new monthly challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is WARM WINTER CLOTHING.  No matter where you live, you probably have some type of cold weather and have to pull out the coats, sweaters, hats, muffs, gloves, mittens or boots. So, please pick an image that includes WARM WINTER CLOTHING. I used this adorable image from All Dressed Up named Little Skater.

I colored my image with Copics and added Stardust Stickles to the edges of her frilly skirt. I used Memory Box dies: snowflake wreath, snowflake and mittens; Silver Deco Dots by Queen &  Co.; Pebbles Chalk to give my mittens a touch of color; and, the sentiment is by Lili of the Valley.

Our sponsor this month is All Dressed Up who is offering 3 digital images of the winner's choice as a prize!  Take a look at the images at All Dressed Up and I'm sure you'll agree that they are some of the cutest images around. Thank you, Anne Lise at All Dressed Up, for providing the images to the Christmas at Sweet Stampin' Team.

The Team has created some fabulous cards to inspire you for the Christmas at Sweet Stampin' challenge of WARM WINTER CLOTHING. Please hop over to the blog and take a look at their creations and I know you won't be disappointed!

                                                                               Hugs,

                                                    Gail


This card is entered in the following challenge:  All Dressed Up

Winter Fun!

Today begins a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and the topic is WINTER FUN. We're looking for fun things that you do in the winter season. It can be an outdoor sport or activity such as sledding, snowman building, ice skating, skiing, caroling, or an indoor activity such as decorating the Christmas tree, baking cookies, making a gingerbread house. There are oodles of images that fit WINTER FUN and it must be a winter activity of some sort!

I used this adorable image from Little Miss Muffet Stamps. Her name is Polka Dot Pal Noeleen.

The tree die is by Magnolia, the die around my image is by QuicKutz, the ice skates die is by Impression Obsession, and the poinsettia die is by Sue Wilson. My papers are from a Carta Bella paper pack. The assorted green pearls, metal button and sequins are from my stash.


We're being sponsored by Little Miss Muffet Stamps this month! Have you ever been to the LMMS store? You're in for a wonderful treat, so please click on the link above or the picture below and have a peek!

Little Miss Muffet Stamps will award one $6.00 Gift Certificate for the random winner of this challenge.  The Gift Certificate can be used towards anything in the LMMS store, including Digital Stamps, Rubber Stamps and/or Metal Dies!

The Christmas at Sweet Stampin' Design Team has had a great time creating their cards this month with these fabulous images. We hope you'll enjoy what we've made and will join us for our WINTER FUN challenge. Thank you, Barbara at Little Miss Muffet Stamps, for sponsoring our challenge this month!

                                                                                   
                                                                                Hugs,

                                                     Gail


This card is entered in the challenge at Little Miss Muffet.

Winter Animals

It's the second Wednesday of the month and time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'. Our topic for this challenge is:  ANIMALS in winter.  Your animal needs to be a winter animal, or an animal dressed for winter since we are a Christmas challenge. 

We have a sponsor this month, All Dressed Up, and I was given this adorable image to use. Thank you Wendy at ADU! The name of this stamp is Christmas Post.

I colored my image with my new Zig watercolor markers. The technique I used was to color a small area and then wet that area of the image and slide the color around with a small wet paintbrush. I'll be using this technique more since I love the watercolor look. To put this card in perspective, it's 5"x7". The snow was made with white puffy paint and then I sprinkled Cool Glitter Ritz on it. The snowflakes aren't showing up well, but they're colored light blue and then I used my Sakura glue pen and applied Cool Glitter Ritz all over them, too.  The paws on the sentiment are buttons with the backs cut off and glued on.

Our sponsor, All Dressed Up, is offering 3 digital images of the winner's choice as the prize. If you have never visited their site, you're missing out on some very cute images! Click on the link in my post to go to the store!

 

The Team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have made some awesome cards to inspire you this month. I hope you'll visit us and will join our challenge of ANIMALS in winter since it's never too early to start Christmas cards!

 

                                                                                    Hugs,

                                                          Gail

Cute and Christmassy!

It's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'...and this month the topic is:  CUTE CHRISTMAS!  How hard is that...not very. I think there are more cute Christmas stamps than any other holiday. One thing you don't want to do is BUY Christmas cards later this year, or stress that you don't have enough made. Join us the second Wednesday of each month and you'll have gotten a head start on your cards!

I used a stamp I bought this year from Whimsy. She's a stamp by Time For Tea. I think she's a great image to use for a CUTE CHRISTMAS card!

I colored my image with Copics and added the white polks dots on her hat with a white fine tip Sharpie pen. The big snowflake is a die by Tonic Studios and the sentiment in the center is by Whimsy and I used a round punch. The lace is from my stash and I ran pearls along the top of it to dress it up a bit--like lace needs dressing up! My polka dot ribbon and red rhinestones are from my stash. The snow and pom-pom on her hat were made with white 3-D paint and while wet I sprinkled glitter on the paint.

If you haven't yet been to Christmas at Sweet Stampin' to see the very CUTE CHRISTMAS cards by the Design Team, please stop over. You won't be disappointed and maybe a card or two will inspire you to join us this month. The challenge closes April 11!  Please read the rules on the Christmas at Sweet Stampin' challenge blog before entering.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll join us this month!

                                                                             Hugs,

                                                  Gail

I love snowflakes!

Just when so many of you are wishing for all the snow to melt, along comes Christmas at Sweet Stampin' with their February challenge of SNOWFLAKES. Awww, quit your moaning...winter isn't over yet, no matter how much you wish for spring, and your winter stamps are probably still within arm's reach!  We want to see SNOWFLAKES for this month's challenge!!

I've used this image from Lili of the Valley for my card and colored him with Copics.

My papers are by Doodlebug...my most favorite brand of cute and adorable papers. The snowflakes up the sides are by Memory Box and I added some white 3-D paint in the middle of each snowflake and then sprinkled glitter on the wet paint. My sentiment is from Lili of the Valley. I colored my entire snowman with Susie Sparkle Snowfall Glitter using my Sakura Glue Pen. Oh, and a dash of Glossy accents to the bird feeder so it looks like glass in person. To make the snow on the ground 3-D, I first put down some white 3-D paint and then sprinkled the glitter on top. I like doing that when I'm wanting more than a flat sparkle surface. The red rhinestones are from my collection of supplies.

So, who is our sponsor for this challenge?  ME! Our small, and talented, team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is happy to jump in whenever we can to always have a prize for our drawing and so this month I offered to be the sponsor!!  You don't have to leave a comment on each design team member's blog (we're a small team of 6) to win the prize, but it would be appreciated.  Everyone can use a little encouragement and a kind word or two, so please leave a little note if you like what we've made.

The Team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' makes outstanding Christmas cards since that's what we love to do. I hope you'll join us for our challenge of SNOWFLAKES!

                                                                                      Hugs,

                                                           Gail