25 Days of Christmas Tags + Precious Remembrance Shop

 

Precious Remembrance Shop is joining up with Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event today!  If you aren't familiar with this yearly event, you can find all the details HERE!  Comment and play along for your chance to win!

I created a tag using Precious Remembrance Shop's beautiful Sketchy Christmas set & Brushed Silver cardstock (StampinUp!).  I love this particular cardstock during the winter season!

Stamps:  Precious Remembrance Shop (Sketchy Christmas)

I stamped and fussy cut the tree and then popped it up with foam dots on the die cut tag.  The sentiment was stamped directly on the tag using black ink.  I added two colors/sizes of sequins for a little pop of color & sparkle.  I don't tend to use much ribbon on cards these days (bows are just "knot" my forte), but found some in my stash that was grey to go along with my color scheme!

I hope you'll go check out all the gorgeous tags being shared during Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event!  There are so many fabulous ideas!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

All Things Pretty at CASology

 

It's time for a new cue word over at CASology!  This week will probably have you thinking of all things beautiful.  With whisperings of snow beginning to appear in the forecast, my thoughts turned to that first snowfall each winter.  I think the first snow is always the prettiest, isn't it?  After that, I don't get quite as enthused about additional snowfall.

I used a retired snowflake die and a sentiment from the Uniko Studio's wonderful Stunning Snowflakes stamp set to create a white on white design with a pop of color.  I die cut the snowflake on the main panel and removed just the very center to create a little window for a stamped heart (Strike a Pose set).  I added a small clear gemstone to the center of the heart to draw the eye in even more.

Be sure and go say a quick hello to the design team members & this week's guest designer!  They work so hard each week to create inspiration!

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins
 Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kimberly Wiener

Melissa Chipperfield - You are here.
 Ren Loh
 Tracey McNeely

Guest Designer:  Claire

Then, don't forget to link up your own creation on the challenge blog by Monday at NOON (CST) for your chance to win a prize from this week's sponsor, Uniko Studio!

It's raining and extremely grey here today.  We didn't get much for rain last month, so I suppose it's about time we had some of our usual rainy autumn days.  I'm hoping to settle in and spend some time doing creative projects (after laundry, ironing and supper prep & a good run, that is)!  I have a newborn photo session that I need to finish editing and some card sets to make for a couple individuals!  Coffee will be on the menu beyond breakfast today!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Prickley Pear Glittered Tutorial

Happy Monday a little late!  I wanted to share a card I made for a fun tutorial over on the Prickley Pear blog!  It uses glitter and a dryer sheet for some awesome sparkle!  Take a look at this!

I apologize for the silence here on the blog!  I have a lot on my plate right now, but hope by next week, things will be a bit calmer around here!

Until next time, happy stamping!

CASology Snow

It's Tuesday and time for a new cue word over at CASology!  With the first day of winter coming right up, we thought we'd at least do our part to prepare your minds for the official season of snow.

I personally don't mind snow all that much unless I must be out driving in it.  Then, you'll find me secretly wishing those beautiful snowflakes would go find a ski slope to fall on.  Snowmen, on the other hand, are always a welcome sight.

Stamps:  Endless Creations (Think Snow, Snowman & Mouse Border)

I used a snowman scene stamp & sentiment from Endless Creations to create this uber CAS card.  Once I'd stamped the winter scene, I colored the mouse and snowman's accessories and then added a touch of sparkle to the snowman and the little hill using a Wink of Stella brush marker.  I popped up the main panel with foam dots and I was done.  Just look at all that white space, will ya?!

Be sure and go for a walk through winter wonderland by visiting the rest of the design team members' blogs as well as this week's guest designer's blog!

 

Ardyth Percy-Robb
Gillian Ross 
Jen Wills 
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kimberly Wiener

May Park

Meghan McMillan
Melissa Chipperfield (you are here)
Tracey McNeely

Guest Designer:  Laura 

Don't forget to link up your own SNOW creation on the challenge blog by Monday at NOON (CST)!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

A Little CASology Festivity!

There is a little extra excitement over at CASology today! We've decided to be a little festive this week!

 

Tracey is currently doing 25 Days of Christmas Tags on her blog and we are joining her!

There are prizes to be won, so you'll want to visit her blog for all the fine details!  The prizes are from the following companies:

Reverse Confetti
Clearly Besotted
CAS-ual Fridays
Neat and Tangled
Paper Smooches

 

**Be sure and leave a comment here on this post by November 27th for an extra chance to win one of the fabulous prizes!**

For the FESTIVE challenge, I automatically thought of anything that sparkles or shines!  Thus, I dug out my Heidi Swapp Color Shine sprays (again) and some clear gemstones.

This tag was first sponged with Cherry Cobbler ink (StampinUp!).  Then, I used teal and white sprays to add a little shine.  The deer (Mama Elephant - Winter Wonderland) were stamped and fussy cut before being popped up behind the snowy hills (a Mama Elephant Creative Cuts die).  I stamped a trio of silver stars and embellished with three clear gemstones.

You'll want to visit the rest of the design team members' blogs as well as our guest designer's blog so you can leave them comments too!  Each blog you comment on earns you more chances to win Tracey's prizes!

 

Ardyth Percy-Robb
Gillian Ross 
Jen Wills 
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kimberly Wiener

May Park

Meghan McMillan
Melissa Chipperfield (you are here)
Tracey McNeely

Guest Designer:  Laura Norris

I am also linking this up with Mama Elephant's November Challenge!

 

Don't forget to link up your own FESTIVE creation on the CASology blog by Monday at NOON (CST)!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Triple the Muse

 

It's been a while since I've participated in the Muse Challenge.  When I discovered Michele is Guest Muse this week, I just had to make it a point to play along!  She's a one-of-a-kind, pun-loving gal and always so kind leaving supportive comments out in blogland!

She has challenged us to take a single sheet of designer paper and make not one, but three cards with it.  The cards must each be a different design, but similar in theme!  Seeing that I have a paper stash that my children will probably inherit when I'm gone (I'll never use it all myself!), I went digging to find something appropriate (& modern).  Since Michele used a holiday/wintry theme, I decided to choose something similar.  My Mind's Eye papers are some of my favorites and that is what I used.

Here are the cards she created for inspiration:

I noticed she used die cuts and absolutely no stamps, so I tried to do the same!

Here is what I created with the paper I selected:

Here's a look at each individual card:

I used a simple Memory Box window die for this card and attached a piece of the designer paper to the back to make it look like it is snowing outside.  This layered piece was then attached to the card base with foam dots.  I punched some tiny snowflakes with a Martha Stewart border punch, adhered each snowflake to the card base and then applied a little sparkle with a Wink of Stella brush marker.

For this card, I simply layered a piece of the designer paper on a piece of white cardstock and then added a portion of a die cut country scene (another Memory Box die) to the bottom.  I popped up the panel with foam dots for dimension and added three clear gemstones of varying sizes to three of the snowflakes.

For my third card, I die cut a snowflake (Uniko Studio) from a piece of the designer paper and popped it up on a stitched die cut panel (Mama Elephant).  I popped up the stitched panel with foam dots and then added a single clear gemstone to the center of the snowflake.

Three simple cards.  My favorite?!  The lonely snowflake.  I've had my fill of snowy thoughts for a few days.  It's off to finish Halloween things now!

Have a fantastic Thursday!

Polar Bear Gift Bucket

This time of year, it's always good to give the boys' teachers a little thank you gift of some sort. I usually do so at Thanksgiving time, but didn't get it done on time this year. Secretly, now that I'm done making these little buckets, I'm kind of glad I did miss my usual gifting date because I got to go with more of a winter theme!

Anyone that knows me really well, knows I can't resist little buckets and filling them with things!  I found these recently at Target (Thankfully, after the whole security issue they had!).  I put some little goodies inside with a pen and a little notebook that looks a lot like an Oreo cookie!  I figured they'd appreciate at least a little calorie free goodness!  A gift card is always included because I know teachers need a few more things for their classrooms than what the school budget allows.

What about you?  Do you give any teachers little gifts this time or year and, if so, what gift ideas have you come up with over the years?

I hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Wordless Wednesday: Finding Balance

Warm Thoughts

 

Today is the beginning of a cozy cue word challenge over at CASology!  One that, in my mind, is just perfect for the season!

If there is anything other than stamping and photography that I'm just itching to try, it has to be knitting!  I remember knitting with my mother as a young girl, but I left the skill somewhere back in childhood.  Today, I have a little box of knitting things just waiting for me to work up some courage to learn to knit again.  I find myself dreaming of knitting little hats for DD and DS3.  You know, those cute ones you see all over Pinterest and Etsy?!  Alas, time only allows for so much creativity at a time!  For now, I have a friend who creates such hats, but with crocheting!  It's good to have connections, you know!

Knitting automatically makes me think of sheep.  Those simple creatures are so generous!  Some of my favorite clothing is made of wool and I thank them for that!  I have a few sheep stamps in my stash that have never seen ink and I couldn't wait to dig them out for this occasion!

Stamps:  The Cat's Pajamas (Sheepish)

Since I'm a severely CAS kind of gal, I quickly squelched the desire to color this sheep with my Copic markers.  Given the lack of unfilled squares on our calendar lately, that would have taken too much of that thing called time and I have a whole stash of decorative paper that haunts me quite often while I'm designing cards!  Someday I'll use it all up.  Or my great-great-great grandchildren will...it's that bad, I tell you!  Of course, they'll probably view it as a collection like those twisty ties some of the older ones I knew growing up used to hoard, simply shaking their heads and thinking, "WHY?!"

This card is going to a DF of mine who has such a positive attitude about winter.  I'm one of those who likes to complain a little just for the fun of it and would never admit that I like wrapping my frozen fingers around a hot cup of coffee and slipping my cold, purple toes (yes, they do look this way from time to time...) into warm, fuzzy socks or slippers!  Those are simple winter pleasures that I do enjoy!

I paper pieced the polka dotted scarf and then added a tiny bit of clear Stickles to each white dot (which apparently is invisible to the camera late at night).  I made sure to make the fringe stick out a bit more!  The entire center panel is popped up for dimension.

I hope you'll take some time to visit the rest of the design team members' blogs as well as this week's guest designer's blog!  They've come up with some fantastic inspiration!

Ardyth
Gillian 

Judy 

Kimberly 

Maureen 

Meghan 

Melissa 

(you're here!)

Rosemary 

Tracey

Guest Designer:  Kim

 

Then, don't forget to link up your own KNIT creation on the challenge blog by Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (CST)!

 

It's errand day here today and then laundry awaits!

 

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Flaky

 

Ready for a new cue word challenge?  CASology has a beautiful one this week!  Despite the cold wind and gray sky that a typical snow storm brings with it, there is a beauty to those little flakes that drift down.  One of these days I'm going to get a close up photo of one!

Stamps:  Paper Trey, Verve (sentiment)

I started thinking about the paper snowflakes I used to make as a child.  Most of the time, I'd end up with triangles somewhere in the design!  Holding that thought, I went searching for triangle images in my stamp stash, remembering Paper Trey has a set full of triangles!  I stamped the triangles where the cut out holes would usually appear on a paper snowflake, adding the popped up circular sentiment to the middle.  I used silver Encore ink on the triangles and silver Stickles to outline the center circle.  And there you have it.

Be sure to go take a look at the inspiration the design team and our guest designer whipped up and leave them a little blog love!

Ardyth
Gillian 

Judy 

Kimberly 

Maureen 

Meghan 

Melissa 

(you're here!)

Rosemary 

Tracey

Guest Designer:  Lynn

 

Don't forget to link up your own snowflake creation on the challenge blog by Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (CST)!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

All is Calm, All is White

Just in case you needed a little taste of winter before it officially arrives.  Mother Nature showered us with a some wintry love this morning.  My feelings about it are about as mixed as the precipitation itself, but I'll admit it is kind of pretty.  I simply couldn't stop myself from making a winter themed card!

Stamp:  Endless Creations (sentiment)
Die:  Nestabilities

A snowflake die with a pop of color and a simple sentiment was all I needed!  The finished snowflake was popped up with foam dots for a little dimension.

I hope you've had a marvelous Monday!  I'll be back tomorrow with the new cue word challenge from CASology!

A Monochromatic Winter

It's time for a new cue word over at CASology!  This time around, we're taking some time to stop and think about the current season, winter!

For me, winter makes me think of one thing.  Snow.  The last time we got some snow, about 14 inches fell down around us!  This week, we're expecting regular rain, something rather odd for this time of year!  This year and last have been a bit out of the ordinary weather-wise, but winter is still winter in my eyes and the snow that we do get is put to good use around our house!

I chose to make a monochromatic card this week using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and a simple sentiment from a Gina K set that I rediscovered a few weeks ago.  I added some clear gemstones so as not to take away from the design and keep it white as snow!

Be sure and visit the blogs of the rest of the design team and our guest designer this week, Marlou!  There are some wonderful winter cards to be seen!  Then, be sure and link up your own WINTER creation by Sunday at 4 P.M. (CST)!

Tracey McNeely

Rosemary Dennis

Meghan McMillan

Maureen Merritt

Judy Marino

Jen Wills

Ardyth Percy-Robb

 

Guest Designer:  Marlou

A quiet day is to be mine here on the home front and I'm rather looking forward to it!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Got Snow?

It's Friday and there is an entire weekend ahead!  For once, we don't have one single thing planned and I'm okay with that!  There is even talk of a little snow on Sunday and the boys are holding their breath while crossing their fingers that it will indeed appear!  Love it when it snows on the weekends!

In celebration of the talk of snow, I made a quick snowflake die cut card after doing some much needed clean up in my craft room!  I discovered I have some rather fun winter punches, papers and stamps that will need attention this winter!  Can't wait!

I used two different Martha Stewart snowflakes punches and layered the images.  I added aqua colored gemstones to the smaller one and slightly bent the edges up to add a little dimension.  I also popped up the entire layered snowflake with a foam dot.  I really like SU's Basic Gray and Tempting Turquoise together!  Of course, I like those two colors separately anyway.  A lot.  The sentiment is one I found in an older Gina K. set.

I'm going to link today's card up to the current Simon Says Stamp snowflake challenge just for fun!

 

Have a great weekend!