TCC146 Warmth of the Season

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  How is your week going?!  I hope okay!  We are back at The Card Concept where you tell us what "style" your card-making is!  Here's our beautiful, warm, cozy prompt for this week:

Mmmm, that looks delicious!  Makes me want to go have a latte, or cappuccino, or hot chocolate, or something!  And I had so many ideas!  Here's what I ended up with:

For my Clean and Layered card, I chose to use the Nordic theme, red tones and that pretty mug as my inspiration!  I stamped the mug from the retired Scentsational Season set in Riding Hood Red and after die-cutting it out, mounted it on an oval panel that was embossed with a Tim Holtz EF.  The sentiment is from the retired Hearts Come Home set, backed with some burlap ribbon and embellished with some wee little brown sequins:

The papers are from Simple Stories, and I did emboss two little rows of snowflakes to accent the vertical piece.  My sketch is from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown:

I hope you'll start the new year off with us and share something inspired by our photo!  Just be sure to tell us what "style" you used...you can find all the styles listed on the Card Concept blog!  See you there!  And thanks for stopping in today!

I do believe I have neglected showing Eden in her Christmas finery, and since it sort of matches today's card, here she is:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Scentsational Season (ret), Hearts Come Home (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Vellum, Naturals White (ret), Riding Hood Red (ret), Simple Vintage Christmas DSP (Simple Stories)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red (ret)
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash, Burlap Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Holiday Collection Framlits (ret), Stitching Line Dies (Ellen Hutson), Oval Layering Dies, Scalloped Oval Dies (Nestabilities), Deer Knit Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

Merry and Bright Christmas

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I have a Christmas card for you today---a rather unusually-colored Christmas card!  I was intrigued by the colors in the Hand Stamped Sentiment challenge:

and the Global Design Project had a "CASE the Designer" challenge; I chose to replicate the sketch:

I pulled out a set I haven't used in a while, Hearts Come Home, and went to work:

The houses were stamped in Lovely Lipstick and Flirty Flamingo; the sentiment in Call Me Clover, then diecut with a Chalk Talk die.  I added some diecut trees (Hometown Greetings) and layered it on a Lovely Lipstick  DSP diecut circle:

Finally, I stamped another sentiment in Flirty Flamingo and mounted everything on a mat of Call Me Clover DSP and added a little ribbon trim!  Definitely NOT traditional Christmas colors with that Flirty Flamingo in there, but it definitely gets one's attention!  And just for fun, I am entering this at Just Us Girls' challenge of  "houses"!  

Thanks for popping in today!

Yesterday was a lovely day and I had some time to visit Longwood Gardens:

The lily ponds have been drained for the winter, but my brother says they are getting ready to fill them and add the lilies; the amphibians are ready!  We saw both frogs and toads!

It's been a long winter and it was a delight to see all the flowers!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

FMS341 and MM294 Christmas Barn

Happy Saturday, everyone!  I've been falling behind on my Christmas cards, and I thought the Merry Monday challenge was a nice one, but I realized I only have ONE barn stamp...I have cabins, but no barns!  I paired it with the Freshly Made Sketches sketch as well:

So here we go!  My card is notecard-sized because my stamped elements are rather small; I think if I did this again, I might change the colors, but for now, it is what it is!

I embossed my notecard front with the Softly Falling embossing folder, and then added my stamped elements:  the barn from Papertrey's On the Farm in Night of Navy, along with some trees from Hearts Come Home in Shaded Spruce; and the "snow", also from Papertrey, stamped in Balmy Blue.  I added a few little stamped"snowflakes" and a sentiment from the new Itty Bitty Greetings.  The final touch was a little diecut snowflake, embellished with a rhinestone, also in Balmy Blue:

Another one to add to the stash!

Yesterday was the last day of school and a couple photos were in order!  Cassidy and our neighbor Lee posed together:

And we couldn't leave out Lee's sister Jackie!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Greetings, Hearts Come Home, On the Farm (Papertrey Ink)
Card stock & Papers	White Notecard, Whisper White, Balmy Blue
Ink	Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce, Balmy Blue
Accessories	Rhinestone, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Softly Falling EF, Snowflakes Die (Taylored Expressions)

SSC174 and 52CC10-18 Christmas Blessings

Happy Monday, everyone!  I have a quick little Christmas card today before I have my stamp club meeting!  It uses the Christmas Card Throwdown color challenge of kraft and red, and the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

Hearts Come Home is still available, as well as Christmas Pines, so I combined the two to create a little scene.  In hindsight, I wish I had heat embossed the houses in white, but I had already fussy-cut them all out and I was too lazy to do them again!!  So here we go:

I mounted them on a little layer of "snow" and added a moon cut with a 3/4" circle punch.  The background is a piece of Crumb Cake that had been run through the Softly Falling embossing folder that was covered with White Craft ink on the inside flat side of the folder.  I like how it's a reverse of the snowflakes on my little scene:

I added a sentiment embossed in white and a layer of Candy Cane Lane DSP (ret) for a coordinating background!  Another Christmas card for my stash!  Thanks for popping in...be sure to come back tomorrow for a nice little announcement!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas Pines, Hearts Come Home
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Candy Cane Lane DSP(ret)
Ink	Craft White
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Softly Falling EF, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals, Heat Tool, White Embossing Powder, Corner Rounder Punch (ret)

Paper Players 367 Tis The Season

Happy Sunday, peeps!  I feel like I have been neglecting my blog friends, not visiting and commenting, so I apologize for that!  The sun finally came out yesterday and cheered me up a bit, although it was like going out in a Kansas tornado, the wind was so strong!  But January is like that!  Anyhoo, Jaydee is our Paper Players hostess this week and look at the colors that blew in from that crazy wind:

Love them together!  I chose white as my "other color", and I didn't even realize that I used the same Eastern Palace Specialty DSP for my card today as last week's card!!!  But it worked, that's all I can say!  I have gotten a slow start on my Christmas cards for this year, so I took the opportunity to make one using some Pretty Pines dies:

I cut out a sprig from each of the challenge colors and mounted them on a panel of Whisper White, adding a Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper bow and some rhinestones for a little extra shine!  The sentiment from Christmas Pines was stamped in Tranquil Tide; I cut the sentiment apart, which is simple to do since it's photopolymer, which made it easier to line up on two lines.  Here's a little better view of my "greenery":

On the inside I added a simple sentiment from Hearts Come Home (which was carried over, so you can still get it!) and some pine branches from Christmas Pines!

And since I have three sprigs of greenery, I am entering my card in the Jingle Belles challenge of "We Three Kings"....to have three of something on your card!  

I hope you'll play with us this at the Players week..the DT has come up with some incredible samples for your inspiration!!  Check them out at the Paper Players blog or right here:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie

·        Jan

I don't have any recent pix of Cassidy, but I thought I would share a couple things she "created" over the last few weeks!  One was a pew card she filled in one morning while in church (Mommy helped her), which I thought was really cute and heart-warming:

It may be a little hard to read, but she is thanking God for us being alive, and she checked off ALL the boxes on the request card!  On the other side, she felt she had the gift of doing the offering....which I could actually see her doing some day, LOL!  She could follow in Wayne and Grampy's footsteps, as they regularly take offering!  The other picture....totally the other side of the spectrum, was drawn on an offering envelope...is of a pig!  Who can figure what is in children's minds, right?!  I love the little tail!

Thanks for popping by today and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas Pines, Hearts Come Home
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Tranquil Tide, Dapper Denim, Lemon Lime Twist, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer, Eastern Palace Specialty DSP
Ink	Lemon Lime Twist, Tranquil Tide
Accessories	Rhinestones
Tools	Big Shot, Pretty Pines Thinlets, Project Life Page Framelits (ret), Project Life Corner Rounder (ret), Dimensionals

FMS317 Hometown Santa

Happy Thursday, peeps!  How are your Christmas plans coming along?!  I usually am a bit more organized, I am feeling a little stressed this year!  I did get all my cards out, but I had a couple of new customers place orders last week and I wanted to make a special card to say "thanks" as well as Merry Christmas, so I put the FMS sketch for this week, from my special friend Jen, to use:

I hadn't used the Hearts Come Home stamp set and Hometown Greetings Edgelits for a while, so I cut out a little 3" panel from Whisper White cardstock, and cut a section of the die that had the snowman (cuz that's my favorite one) and layered it on some Christmas Around the World DSP:

I stamped Santa in Basic Black ink, added some silver thread across the bottom, then I mounted it on a piece of Merry Little Christmas DSP.  The horizontal panel is a piece of Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper.  I love these colors together! In hindsight, I wish I had stamped a wee little sentiment on the bottom right, but for now, it will have to do the way it is!

And speaking of Santa, on Saturday while Dana ran some errands, Wayne took Cassidy to see him and Mrs Claus at our local grocery store (what a great stepdad he is!!!):

I am not sure how many more (if any) years, we'll be able to do this, so I am enjoying her delight while I can!  Thanks for visiting today and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hearts Come Home
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Christmas Around the World DSP, Merry Little Christmas DSP
Ink	Basic Black
Accessories	Silver Thread
Tools	Big Shot, Hometown Greetings Edgelits, Dimensionals

AYSI164 Gift Bag

Hi everyone!  I am glad to see Friday arrive!  There's an icky sinus thing going around my area, so I've been laying low lately!  I was able to create something quick for the latest As You See It challenge today, which is a lovely color palette:

What to make, what to make?  I like to give away little gifts of cookies to people that touch our lives throughout the year.  One year I substituted as a Sunday School teacher and one of the parents gave me two pieces of homemade fudge; just two pieces.....but it was the perfect little gift, not too much, not too over-the-top....and I still remember the delight at receiving that fudge, as it is not something I make myself!  So even though these little cafe bags aren't real big, I think they're just big enough for a few cookies, and a way to say "thanks" to those special people!  I started out with some Print Patterns DSP in Pacific Point and went from there:

My houses were stamped in the challenge colors, using the Hearts Come Home stamp set, then fussy cut and set upon some stitched hills (Lawn Fawn).  I added some Pool Party trees, a little snowman from the retired Jingle All the Way set, and finished it off with a sentiment and, of course, Santa streaking across the sky!

I added a Pool Party bow at the top to tie it all together!  I hope that you'll play with our color challenge this week...it's a delightful one, especially in non-traditional holiday hues!  Be sure to check out the DT samples as well!  Thanks for popping in and be blessed today!

I have always wanted to make a gingerbread house with Cassidy, but the kits seemed like cheating...however, with the limited time I have with her now, when she saw a Minion kit in the grocery store, I caved!  I have to admit, it was fun, although I did transfer the icing to one of my piping bags to make it easier!

I'll share the finished house in my next post---stay tuned!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hearts Come Home, Jingle All the Way (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pool Party,  Patterns DSP (ret)
Ink	Basic Black, Flirty Flamingo, Pacific Point, Pool Party
Accessories	Petite Cafe Bag, Pool Party ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Hometown Greetings Edgelits, 1/4" Circle Punch, Stitched Hillside Dies (Lawn Fawn)