Love - Crazy 4 Challenges #23

Hey, peeps! I wasn't sure I'd have a card for you today--we're in the middle of a winter storm, and as I was working on this post last night the lights were flickering and I was afraid we were going to lose power. But I got it done and here it is!

We've got a fun Crazy 4 Challenges challenge for you today. Robin is February's challenge hostess and she wants us to do a Valentine card. Easy peasy, right?

This week's sponsor is The {Stamps} of Life by Stephanie Barnard. You can get all the deets at the Crazy 4 Challenges blog.

I love non-traditional colors for Christmas and Valentine's Day. I had this Basic Grey paper in my stash for a while and decided this was the time to bring it out. It's an older pattern called SWAK--love that, LOL! I'm using Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #59 for my layout.

First, I cut a heart out of some More Mustard card stock with a scalloped heart Nestabilities die after embossing it with my tiny hearts folder, and added some tiny flat-backed pearls. The focal image is this gorgeous Lace Heart by Flourishes. I stamped it with Encore Gold pigment ink on Bravo Burgundy, heat embossed with Gold Detail embossing powder, and then cut it out and popped it up on 3M foam squares. I tied some sheer ribbon around (it's showing up redder than it is IRL) and added some gold flat-backed pearls. The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped/embossed the same way as the heart. I punched it out with a large oval punch and popped it up, as well. I love the rich colors this card has.

NOW, be sure to check out the samples by the rest of my crazy girls...er, I mean the Crazy 4 Challenges team ;-)

Cindy Haffner
Frances Byrne
Jessica Diedrich
Jessie Rone
Joanne Grzelak
Joycelyn Turner
Lori Boyd
Lynda Benden
Mercy Kerin
Robin Willis
Vicki Garrett

THEN, you know what to do--we'd love to have you come along and play with us. Just do your thing with the challenge and link it to Mr. Linky on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog. Please link directly to your project. And, if you upload to a public gallery, please use the key word C4C23.

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

~Supplies~
Stamps: Lace Heart (Flourishes)
Paper: More Mustard, Bravo Burgundy (SU!); SWAK (Basic Grey)
Ink: Encore Gold pigment ink
Accessories: Cuttlebug, tiny hearts embossing folder (Provocraft); Hearts Nestabilitites (Spellbinders); 3M foam squares, ribbon, gold cord, gold flat-backed pearls (craft store); Ticket Corner and Large Oval punches, Embossing Buddy (SU!); Gold Find Detail embossing powder (Ranger); heat gun

Love is in the air

This card is for Mercy's sketch challenge #25--just a wee bit late ;-). But that's OK, it's a great sketch and it was fun to do. It also qualifies for CCEE Stampers' challenge today: use a fish or fish lips on your card. I've been wanting to do this little Fluffles stamp and this was a perfect sketch with which to use him.

My base card is Chocolate chip, the next layer is Real Red and the next is Pretty In Pink, run through my Cuttlebug with the Love Language folder. The focal image was stamped on Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White Cardstock with Chocolate Chip craft ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder (I tried several times with Momento ink and the fish kept bleeding outside the lines!). It was then colored with copics (see below). Then it was cut/embossed with an oval Nestabilities die and matted on Pretty In Pink and Chocolate chip. Three flat-backed hearts accent the bottom of the A 1" red gingham bow (I love the big ribbons and bows!) finishes it off. The focal image is up on 3M foam squares.

Thanks for dropping in!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Fishy Fluffles (Stampendous)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Pretty In Pink (SU!); Stamper's Select White Cardstock (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Chocolate Chip craft ink (SU!)
Accessories: 3M foam squares, ribbon (craft store); flat-backed hearts (Hero Arts); Cuttlebug and oval Nestabilites, Copics, clear embossing powder, heat gun

Love is...

Gosh, I love this sentiment and this card! Sorry, I got carried away with myself ;-)

OK, this card is a quadruple-header!! It's for: Valentine's Day, Our Creative Corner Challenge (use something clear, which will become clear shortly), the current Sketch For You To Try, and the Holiday Challenge Extravaganza #11--to use paper tole on a card.

My card base is Basic Black, with a layer of silver metallic card stock and then a layer of Real Red DSP from a 6 x 6 hostess gift pad. The focal image is the clear challenge part. The sentiment is a clear sticker by Cloud 9 Designs from a set called, appropriately enough, "Love". It was adhered to Whisper White card stock and matted with Real Red, silver, and Basic Black. Some small black faceted jewels accent the upper right corner and it's popped up on 3M foam squares. Two strips of black grosgrain ribbon with white stitching follow the sketch design. The accent heart, from the Always set (I really love this heart!) was stamped twice--once on Whisper White with Versamark and heat embossed with silver embossing powder and cut out around the center heart. Next, it was stamped on Real Red with Basic Black and cut out around the outer dotted heart. The silver layer was popped up on 3M foam squares for the paper tole part, and the whole thing was attached on 3M foam squares, as well. Some larger black faceted jewels accent the lower right corner for balance. The Valentine's Day part should be obvious ;-)

Thanks for dropping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Always (SU!)
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Real Red DSP, Basic Black (SU!), silver metallic card stock (Office Max)
Ink: Versamark, Basic Black
Accessories: silver embossing powder, heat gun, black faceted jewels (small ones by Hero Arts, large from craft store), ribbon (craft store), clear sticker (Cloud 9 Designs), 3M foam squares

Rejoice

This card is for the Holiday Challenge Extravaganza #6, which can be found here--make a one-layer card. I'm not good at that, LOL, but I'm OK with this one. Next time I use this stamp I'll add a couple of color layers on the card to bring out the colors. This is the first time I've used this stamp, so I'm glad for this challenge that made me think of it.

My base card is Whisper White. I stamped this image from Flourishes Rejoice set in Versamark and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. Then I colored in the holly leaves with a Handsome Hunter marker and the berries with a Real Red marker. Tied a dark green ribbon around the top and called it done! Talk about QUICK!! I'm already thinking of other ways to use this stamp for next year.

Thanks for taking a look!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Rejoice (Flourishes)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Handsome Hunter, Real Red
Accessories: heat gun, Embossing Buddie, gold embossing powder, ribbon

More Christmas decor items

Are you getting sick of seeing these, LOL? OK, three more projects in this post and that's the last of them for now--I think ;-)

The first project is more letters--these are for the fake mantle in our library/media room. We have a free-standing gas log stove in there and no mantle so we mounted a mantle on the wall behind the stove. It works! These letter are NOEL and done in a woodland tone to match the other Christmas decorations in this room.

Here's the overall look of the "mantle":


















And here are the letters close-up:
















The next project is for a cute little metal "envelope" I found a couple of years ago. I thought it needed a "letter" in it so I typed out the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter, embellished it slightly with some holly leaves punched with a Martha Stewart punch and some red "berry" stickers, and put it in the "envelope". I have it hanging on the door knob to DH's Man Cave. Here's the overall look:





















And here's a closer view showing the embellishments:
















OK, the last one. I have a couple of white feather trees sitting on the step to our whirlpool tub with purple ornaments on them. I wanted a little something else to group with the trees, so I took a white pillar candle and embellished it a bit. I stamped a snowflake border and a greeting from the Just Rite Christmas set with Versamark and heat embossed with silver embossing powder. It's matted with Lavender Lace and silver metallic card stock, as is the band that wraps around the candle. Here's the overall look:




















And here's a closer look:

















I think most of these are pretty self-explanatory so I won't do the recipe thing. But if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks for bearing with me, LOL. On the next post I'll be back to cards!! Woohoo!!

Making Christmas sweeter.

Yep, another post today. Hey! I've got some catchin' up to do, LOL!

I wanted to have a little favor for my open house guests, so this is what I did. On some candy canes, I attached a tag that read: Open House 2008 Thank you for making our Christmas a little sweeter. John and Barbara. I printed these from my computer, using a label template, punched them out with my SU! oval punch, and tied them on with red crochet cotton. I then put them in a basket with a large tag, using my Just Rite Christmas collection and large round Harmony stamper. I'm not totally pleased with how this part came out--I'll have to work on that since I'm planning on this becoming a traditional part of my open house.

Here's the candy cane label:
















And here's the basket label:
















Thanks for looking again! One more post for today and I'll quit. I promise, LOL!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Just Rite Christmas
Paper: White GP card stock
Ink: Real Red (SU!)
Accessories: oval punch (SU!), 1/16" hole punch, red crochet cotton

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

I love Christmas (surprised?)! And I love making Christmas cards, so here's another one. I thought this simple tree stamp went well with Basic's Grey's Figgy paper collection. This card is for Our Creative Corner's challenge this week, which is a sketch challenge. I love sketch challenges because I'm sketch challenged, LOL! And this is a great sketch!! Check out what the DT did with this sketch--awesome samples!

My base card is Whisper White, with a layer of Always Artichoke and then a layer of DP. The two corner elements are another pattern from the collection on Bravo Burgundy card stock. The focal image and the sentiment from Verve's Ornamental Christmas set were stamped on Whisper White with Always Artichoke and Bravo Burgundy craft ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used my ticket corner punch and sponged the edges with Always Artichoke. It's layered on Bravo Burgundy and then Always Artichoke and I added burgundy brads to the corners. A burgundy ribbon was tied around this and then it was attached with dimensionals. It got rave reviews at the office this morning and I hope you like it. Thanks for taking a look!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Simple Christmas Tree (seriously, that's it's name!--Stampabilities), Cupcake Affair (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy (SU!), Figgy DP (Basic Grey)
Ink: Bravo Burgundy and Always Artichoke craft ink (SU!)
Accessories: ribbon and brads (craft store), heat gun, clear embossing powder, sponge, dimensionals